PLANCHETTE 


ESPAJ.K.  Cur 


BOSTON 

ROBERTS  BROTHli! 

N?  MSVHGi-iiS  IHIKCrtO itf  3t,RE'iE"l' 


LIBRARY 

OF  THK 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIFT  OF 

PACIFIC  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY. 


Accession 


JVb. 


Presented 


nted 


THE  HANDY  VOLUME  SERIES. 

MESSRS.  ROBERTS  BROTHERS  propose  to  issue,  under  the 
above  heading,  a  Series  of  Handy  Volumes,  which  shall  be  at 
once  various,  valuable,  and  popular,  —  their  size  a  most  conven 
ient  one,  their  typography  of  the  very  best,  and  their  price  ex 
tremely  low.  They  will  entertain  the  reader  with  poetry  as  well 
as  with  prose ;  now  with  fiction,  then  with  fact ;  here  with  narra 
tion,  there  with  inquiry  ;  in  some  cases  with  the  works  of  living 
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book  of  double  the  price." 

ATHENAEUM.  —  "The  size  is  handy,  the  typs  neat,  the  paper  good,  and  the 
price  moderate." 

ILLUSTRATED  TIMES.  —  "  We  hail  this  new  series  of  '  Handy  Volumes  '  with 
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library  ;  and  would  advise  all  who  value  good,  substantial,  interesting  reading 
to  go  and  do  likewise." 

LONDON  NEWS.  —  "  The  handy  volume,  —  the  pretty  volume,  —  the  volume 
of  good  reading,  is  a  cheap  volume." 

The  Handy  Volume  Series  will  be  neatly  bound  in  cloth,  flexi 
ble  covers,  and  sold  for  one  dollar,  or  in  neat  paper  covers,  il 
luminated  red  and  black,  for  75  cents. 


HANDY    VOLUME    SERIES. 
i. 

HAPPY   THOUGHTS.     By  F.  C.  BURNAND. 

.  2. 
DOCTOR  JACOB.    A  Novel.    By  Miss  M.  BETHAM  EDWARDS. 

3- 

PLANCHETTE  :  The  Despair  of  Science ;  with  an  Account  of 
the  Phenomena  (called  Spiritual)  of  the  last  Twenty  Years,  — 
the  Evils,  Facts,  Fanaticisms,  &c. 

Other  volumes  will  follow  the  above  at  convenient  intervals. 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS,  BOSTON. 


HANDY-VOLUME  SERIES. 

No.  III. 


PLANCHETTE; 

OR, 

THE    DESPAIR    OF    SCIENCE. 


PLANCHETTE; 


OR, 


THE     DESPAIR     OF      SCIENCE, 


FULL  ACCOUNT  OF   MODERN   SPIRITUALISM,  ITS  PHENOMENA, 
AND    THE    VARIOUS    THEORIES    REGARDING    IT. 


SURVEY     OF     FRENCH     SPIRITISM. 

£pes 


"  Search  where  them  wilt,  and  let  thy  reason  go 
To  ransom  Truth,  even  to  the  abyss  below." 


BOSTON: 
ROBERTS     BROTHERS. 

1869. 


EDUC. 

PSYCH. 

LIBRARY 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1868,  by 

ROBERTS     BROTHERS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDGE  : 
PRESS   OK  JOHN   WILSON   AND   SON. 


A    PREFACE    IN    A    LETTER. 


To  THE  REV.  W.  M. :  — 

~j\/TY  DEAR  FRIEND,  —  More  than  twenty  years 
ago,  we  ventured  to  cross  the  border  of  what 
Ennemoser  calls  "  the  great  ill-famed  land  of  the 
marvellous."  Certain  manifestations  arrested  our 
notice.  Repelled  and,  for  a  long  time,  baffled  by 
what  seemed  merely  grotesque  or  trivial,  we  did  not 
abandon  inquiry.  Our  interest  in  the  proscribed 
phenomena  has  not  yet  abated.  We  have  lived  to 
see  the  smile  of  derision  with  which  the  spiritual 
hypothesis  that  accompanied  them  was  at  first 
saluted,  grow  fainter  and  fainter,  until  it  now  rarely 
appears  on  the  lips  of  well-informed  persons ;  and 
the  question  is  put  seriously,  even  by  doctors  of 
divinity  and  veterans  of  science,  "What  do  these 
•  things  mean?" 

I   cannot  presume  to  answer  dogmatically ;   but 

,   having  kept  trace  of  the  so-called  spiritual  move- 

!    ment  that  began  at  Hydesville  in  1847,  and  having, 

long  before  that  period,   investigated  the  kindred 

y>hemomena   of    somnambulism,    independent    and 
nesmeric,  I  have  hoped  to  offer  such  a  survey  of 


PREFACE. 


the  facts  and  theories  as  would  be  acceptable  to 
earnest  and  uncommitted  seekers  after  truth,  always 
excepting  those  who,  like  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer, 
decline,  "on  a  priori  grounds,"  to  look  into  the  sub 
ject.  Recently,  attention  has  been  directed  to  it 
anew  by  the  wooden  trifle  known  as  the  Planchette  ; 
and  I  have  chosen  the  name  of  this  mysterious  toy 
as  the  title  of  my  book,  rather  as  a  convenient  sign 
post,  pointing  to  one  little  phase  of  the  complex 
whole,  than  as  indicating  fully  the  character  of  the 
facts  here  collected  ;  for  these  are,  I  am  persuaded, 
of  supreme  importance,  embracing,  as  they  do,  in 
their  relations,  most  of  the  authentic  marvels  in  the 
pneumatology  of  ancient  and  modern  times. 

Without  undervaluing  the  tributary  services  of 
Planchette  in  certain  rare  cases,  I  cannot  doubt  that 
its  eccentricities  are  often  explicable  by  unconscious 
nervous  movement  or  by  wanton  deception.  But, 
after  making  allowance  for  all  that  is  unprofitable, 
trifling,  and  tedious  in  the  experiments,  —  for  all  that 
ought  to  be  deducted  as  giving  no  conclusive  evi 
dence  of  supersensual  knowledge  or  power,  —  there 
is  a  remainder  of  well-attested  results,  which  cannot 
be  explained  by  any  theory  of  imposture,  halluci 
nation,  or  unexplored  nervous  action  ;  and  these  re 
sults  belong  to  the  class  here  considered. 

I  regret  that  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
present  work  was  written  did  not  permit  me  to  shape 


PREFACE.  V 

it  in  nearer  accordance  with  my  own  notions  of  com 
pleteness  and  of  the  far-reaching  significance  of  the 
developments ;  but  this  earth-life  is  so  brief  and  un 
certain,  that  to  have  deferred  my  task,  in  order  to 
accomplish  more,  might  have  been  to  accomplish 
nothing;  and  when  one  has  something  to  say,  he 
may  leave  it  for  ever  unspoken  if  he  is  over-nice  in 
his  choice  of  modes  of  presentation.  May  I  not  tell 
the  public  that  to  your  pen,  my  friend,  they  may 
look  for  something  more  in  keeping  with  the  ampli 
tude  of  the  theme  ;  something  of  which  I  may  ven 
ture  to  announce,  — 

"  'Tis  not  the  hasty  product  of  a  day, 
But  the  well-ripened  fruit  of  sage  delay?" 

In  treating   of  the    anti-supernaturalism    of  the 
age,  you  remark,  — 

"Every  now  and  then  comes  forth  some  one  who  says  aloud, 
after  this  manner :  '  I  know  it,  and  also  every  man  living  knows, 
by  his  own  eyes  and  ears,  that  there  has  nothing  ever  been 
known  of  the  spiritual  world,  not  a  word  from  it  even,  not  a 
miracle.  .  .  .  That  anybody  knows,  or  ever  has  known,  more 
about  it  than  anybody  else,  is  nonsense.  I  am  myself  the  stand 
ard  by  which  you  may  measure  Abraham,  the  patriarch ;  and  as 
to  his  visions,  they  were  merely  dreams,  such  as  I  have  myself. 
I  am  the  measure  of  the  man  Paul.  And,  you  may  believe  me, 
as  to  voice  or  light  from  heaven  ever  having  come  to  him  at  the 
time  of  his  conversion,  that  it  was  not  so.  Simply,  at  that  time, 
he  had  an  attack  of  vertigo,  such  as  we  all  know  something 
about.  Oh,  this  glorious  clearing  of  the  mind,  by  which  now, 
in  my  view,  there  is  nothing  higher  anywhere  than  the  level  of 
my  own  experience !  Oh,  what  a  comfort  it  is  to  have  miracles 


VI  PREFACE. 

shrink  into  common  earthly  things,  and  to  know  that  nobody  has 
ever  seen  them,  any  more  than  I  have! '  This  would  seem  to  be 
odd  comfort ;  but  there  are  persons  whose  needs  it  would  seem 
to  meet." 

You  anticipate  that  the  child  born  this  year  will 
see  in  his  generation  our  men  of  science  become 
reverent  believers  in  the  supernatural  of  the  Scrip 
tures.  In  the  facts  I  here  present,  you  will  find 
some  reasons  for  this  opinion ;  but  you  will  also 
learn  that  there  are  persons  who  admit  the  phe 
nomena,  but  denounce  Spiritualism  as  a  "  nervous 
epidemic,  based  on  a  gigantic  assumption,  and 
propping  an  ancient  superstition,"  namely,  that  of 
individual  spirits  !  So,  you  see,  there  will  be  work 
still  for  the  Spiritualists,  even  when  the  facts  are 
generally  accepted,  as  they  are  likely  to  be  within 
the  next  quarter  of  a  century. 

For  portions  of  this  volume,  I  can  claim  no 
other  merit  than  that  of  a  compilation.  Some  of  it, 
however,  is  compiled  from  past  publications  of  my 
own.  For  what  I  have  adopted  from  others  I  have 
endeavored  to  give  credit,  except  where  the  purely 
narrative  form  of  the  matter  seemed  not  to  require  it, 
or  its  source  could  not  be  traced. 

Of  late  years,  our  public  journalists  have  gener 
ally  been  not  only  tolerant,  but  liberal,  toward  in 
vestigators  into  the  modern  phenomena.  In  some 
instances,  however,  holders  of  the  spiritual  hypo 
thesis  have  been  met  in  a  way  which  would  be  in- 


PREFACE.  Vll 

suiting,  if  it  were  possible  for  a  pedantic  arrogance 
to  insult.  To  some  of  their  speculations  a  learned 
critic,  whose  audience  is  rather  select  than  large, 
replies  with  impertinent  personal  detraction,  —  his 
ready  relief  when  confronted  by  a  non-ego  that  will 
not  fit  into  his  pigeon-holes.  Then,  in  all  dissen 
tients,  he  sees  at  once  a  base  congenital  defect ;  by 
the  easy  and  polite  imputation  of  which,  without  the 
foreign  aid  of  argument,  he  would  explain  the  au 
dacious  phenomenon  of  a  way  of  thinking,  different 
from  his  own. 

Less  amusing,  but  equally  supercilious,  is  the  re 
gard  which  a  somewhat  higher  authority  bestows  on 
the  spiritual  theory. 

At  this  time,  when  the  extreme  materialism  that 
denies  a  soul  and  a  future  life  lifts  its  head  with  so 
assured  an  air,  and  assumes  the  tone  of  scientific 
certainty,  claiming  the  latest  discoveries  of  physiol 
ogy  and  biology  in  its  support,  it  is  not  for  one  who 
accepts  substantially  the  leading  facts  of  this  volume, 
to  be  deterred  by  the  ignorant  misconceptions  and 
the  dc-haut-en-bas  affectations  of  any  would-be 
dictators  in  the  world  of  letters  and  philosophy, 
from  handing  on  to  the  next  willing  hand  the  torch 
which  may  help  to  illumine  the  occult  places  of 
truth.  These  enterprising  critics  aspire  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  great  phenomena  of  Spiritualism  by 
means  of  powerful  leading  articles  and  ingenious 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

I 

feats  of  irony.  A  sneer  at  gravitation  would  have 
about  as  much  effect  as  their  clever  writing  has  had 
in  arresting  progress. 

Thanks  to  that  Providence  who  ever  proportions 
our  natural  supply  to  our  needs,  physical  and  spirit 
ual,  the  means  of  opposing  to  the  hypothesis  of  the 
extreme  materialist  an  array  of  positive  facts  are 
now  widely  familiar ;  so  much  so  indeed,  that  the 
time  for  sarcasms  and  condescensions  towards  them 
is  past,  except  among  the  loiterers  in  the  present 
quick  march  of  mind.  An  accumulation  of  facts, 
supported  by  the  most  respectable  contemporaneous 
testimony,  is  presented  in  this  book,  such  as  no  free, 
sincere  intelligence  can  dismiss  with  contumely  or 
flippant  unconcern.  To  neutralize  their  force,  or  to 
induce  any  person,  who  does  his  own  thinking,  to 
be  blind  to  their  importance,  it  will  require  some 
thing  more  than  a  sprightly  critique  or  even  a  crush 
ing  "editorial,"  —  disgraceful  as  such  insensibility 
may  seem  to  the  able  editor  himself. 

What  are  we  to  do  with  these  facts?  Criticism 
has  done  its  worst,  and  they  are  still  irrepressible. 
May  we  not  hope  that  what  is  now  the  despair 
of  Science  may  one  day  be  its  key  to  much  that  is 
obscure  in  the  duplex  nature  of  man;  its  clew 
to  a  complete  rational  assurance  of  his  immortal 

destiny  ? 

E.  S. 

BOSTON,  January,   1869. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 
WHAT  SCIENCE  SAYS  OF  IT «  ^.;   .     .     .     1-28 

Planchette,  or  the  little  plank— Its  caprices  — Its  genealogy  —  Related  to 
the  tipping  tables  —  Science  puzzled  —  Physical  disturbances  —  The  phe 
nomena  irrepressible  —  Resistance  to  the  facts  —  Cambridge  and  the  me 
diums—The  Professors  nonplussed  —  Their  solemn  admonition —  Herbert 
Spencer — Faraday's  test  —  Science  on  the  high  horse — Tyndall  and 
Home  —  Sir  David  Brewster  —  Professor  Hare  —  Scientific  re-action  — 
Dr.  Elliotson  —  Mr.  Wilkinson  —  Professor  De  Morgan  —  Testimony  of 
electricians  —  A  supercilious  philosopher  —  Humility  of  true  science  — 
History  repeating  itself. 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  PHENOMENA  OF  1847 29~54 

Rappings  at  Hydesville  — The  Fox  family —  Glanvil  and  Wesley  —  Melanc- 
thon  —  Luther  —  Meeting  at  Rochester —  Letter  of  William  Mountford  — 
Multiplication  of  mediums  —  Koon's  rooms  —  Davenport  Brothers  — 
Dr.  Gray's  letter  —  Dark  circles  —  Loomis's  testimony —  Professor  Mapes 
—  Captain  Burton — The  Davenports  in  Europe  —  French  jugglers  — 
Messrs.  Coleman  and  Cooper  —  The  Stratford  phenomena — H.  Greeley 
on  Spiritualism  —  Senator  Simmons  —  Dr.  Campbell  —  Cui  bono? 

CHAPTER   III. 
MANIFESTATIONS  THROUGH  Miss  Fox 55~79 

Dr.  Gray  on  the  phenomena  —  Mr.  Livermore's  remarkable  experiences  — 
Kate  Fox  —  Apparitions  of  Estelle  and  Dr.  Franklin  —  Spirit  flowers,  cos 
tume,  &c.  —  What  the  seers  say — Identity  of  spirits  —  Spirit-writing  — 
Atmospheric  effects  —  Dr.  Gray's  confirmatory  evidence  —  The  spirit- 
body. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
MANIFESTATIONS  THROUGH  MR.  HOME    ......    80-102 

Mediumship  of  Home  —  Mrs.  Lyon  —  Lawsuit  —  Home's  affidavit  —  Per 
sonal  experiences  —  Thought-reading  —  Thackeray  a  Spiritualist  —  Robert 


X  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

Bell  —  Article  in  "  Cornhill  Magazine  "  —  Stranger  than  fiction  —  Startling 
phenomena — Spirit-music  —  Testimony  of  Dr.  Gully  and  Mr.  Varley  — 
The  fire-test  —  Elongation  of  the  person  —  Why  are  we  not  all  mediums  ? 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  SALEM  PHENOMENA,  &c 104-122 

Manifestations  of  1692  and  1868  —  Salem  witchcraft  —  Analogous  facts  — 
Rev.  C.  W.  Upham's  book  —  Sir  Wm.  Blackstone  —  Mr.  Lecky  — Levi- 
tation  —  How  Mr.  Upham  explains  things  —  The  "  Edinburgh  Review  "  — 
Frightened  by  an  hypothesis  —  The  fanatics  in  good  company—  Medium- 
ship  of  Charles  H.  Foster  —  Personal  experiences  —  Proof  of  clairvoy 
ance  —  Dr.  Ashburner's  narrative  —  Stigmata  on  the  flesh  —  The  Mu- 
chelney  disturbances. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
VARIOUS  MEDIUMS  AND  MANIFESTATIONS     ....     123-140 

Colchester— Mrs.  Cushman  — Miss  Jennie  Lord  — Second  letter  of  W.  M. 

—  Personal  experiences  —  Levitation   and   spirit-hands  —  The  bass-viol 
played  on  —  Laura  V.  Ellis  —  Her  imitators  —  Mr.  Danskin's  narrative  — 
The  iron  ring  —  Manifestations  through  Charles  H.  Read —  Mr.  Richard 
son's  affidavit — Spirit-voices  —  Spirit-photographs  —  Mr.  Mumler — Mr. 
Guay  —  Professor  Gunning— Blind  Tom. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  SEERESS  OF  PREVORST — KERNER — STILLING     .     141-152 

Frederica  Hauffe  and  her  biographer — Rappings  no  novelty  —  Familiar 
phenomena — More  facts  in  clairvoyance  —  Kindred  facts  of  science  — 
Kerner's  "  Leaves  from  Prevorst"  —  An  accurate  sketch  of  would-be  critics 

—  Applicable  to  our  own  day  —  Refusing  to  look  at  facts  before  deciding 
on  them  —  "  London  Saturday  Review  "  —  Spirits  of  low  degree  —  Stilling 

—  Professor  Denton's  testimony  —  Clairvoyance  an  established  scientific 
fact  —  Time  and  space. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
SOMNAMBULISM,   MESMERISM,  &c 153-200 

Seers  and  clairvoyants — Personal  mesmeric  experience — Enlarged  horizon 
of  Spiritualism  —  Dr.  Carpenter — Lucid  somnambulism  —  Materialists 
worried  —  They  deny  clairvoyance  —  Their  dogmatism  —  The  belief  in 
immortality—  Moleschott  — Vogt— Feuerbach  —  Biichner—  A.  R.  Wal 
lace —  Vogt  on  the  fcetus  —  Conversion  of  Dr.  Elliotson  —  Dr.  Maudsley 
ignores  the  facts  —  Dr.  Georget's  will  —  Mesmer — French  Academy  — 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS.  XI 

Various  mesmerists  —  Arago  —  Predictions  fulfilled  —  The  Stuttgard 
prophecy  —  Remarkable  instances  of  clairvoyance  —  Brittan  —  Zschokke 
on  the  soul  —  Shelley  —  Dr.  Bushnell  —  Captain  Yount's  dream  —  Ancient 
oracles  —  Townshend  on  the  spirit-body  —  Bacon  —  Bowles  —  H.  G. 
Atkinson  —  Not  much  of  a  shower  —  Dr.  Elliotson  again  —  The  modern 
phenomena  known  to  Billot  and  Deleuze  —  Clairvoyance  and  Spiritualism 

—  Nature's  guarantee   of  immortal  life  —  Dr.  Franck  —  Tyndall  —  J. 
Martineau  —  Shorter. 

CHAPTER   IX. 
MISCELLANEOUS   PHENOMENA 201-217 

Apparitions  —  Lord  Lyttleton  —  Dr.  Donne  —  Captain  Wheatcroft— Wynyard 

—  John  Palmer,  the  actor — Hauntings  —  The  Cock-Lane  ghost  —  Beau 
mont  —  Surprising    occurrences  —  Hahn's    narrative  —  Stone  -  throwing 
phenomena  —  Strange   doings  —  Narrative   of  Dr.   Aschauer  —  Babinet 
and  Brownson  —  Shorter  —  T.  Starr  King  on  Spiritualism  —  Carlyle. 

CHAPTER   X. 

THEORIES 218-278 

Early  theories  —  Dr.  E.  C.  Rogers  —  Mahan,  Bray,  President  Samson  —  A 
new  force —  Gasparin  —  Theory  of  hallucination  —  J.  W.  Jackson  —  Mr. 
A.  Leighton — Remarks  of  "London  Spiritual  Magazine"  —  Spiritual 
hypothesis  —  Value  of  scientific  opinions  —  The  iron  collar — Double-goers 

—  Mr.  Owen's  narrative  —  B.  Coleman  —  Apparitions  of  living  persons  — 
Low  character  of  communications — Fallible  spirits — Daumer's  theory 
• —  Reichenbach   on    Spiritualism  —  Theory   of  Honestas  —  Of  Dr.  Ash- 
burner —  Mr.  Guppy's  "  Mary  Jane  "  theory —  Odic  theories  reviewed  by 
Howitt  —  Rev.  C.  Beecher  on  the  no-spirit  theory  —  Rehn  on  the  Cor 
relation   of  Forces  —  Wake's    psychology  —  Darwin's    hypothesis  —  Re 
marks  of  "  London  Star  "  —  Character  of  vouchers  —  Various  solutions  — 
The  first  question. 

CHAPTER  XL 
COMMON  OBJECTIONS  —  TEACHINGS 279~325 

The  change  wrought  by  death  —  Jobard  on  the  vulgar  notion  —  Tendency  of 
facts — Causes  of  opposition  —  Natural  repugnance  —  Higher  manifesta 
tions —  Spiritualism  defined  —  Absence  of  dogmatic  teaching — Wollaston 

—  Jamieson — Judge  Carter — Report  of  Cleveland  Committee — Dark 
circles  —  Dr.  Wilkinson  —  Mr.  Shorter  —  Frivolous  objections  —  Answer 
to  "  New  York  Nation  "—  Pythonism  —  Antiquity  of  Spiritualism  —  Con 
tradictions  —  Dr.  W.  B.  Potter  —  Mr.  A.  E.  Newton's  reply  —  Lord  Ly tton 
—What  is  matter  —  Honestas  —  Plutarch  —  Julian  the  Apostate  —  General 
agreement  —  Punishment  remedial  —  Statement  from  "  Pall  Mall  Gazette  " 


Xll  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

—  Spiritualism  leaderless  —  Rochester  resolutions  —  Discipline  of  evil  — 
Discourse  of  a  medium — S.   J.    Finney — Shorter — What  is  religion 

—  Kardec  — A.   J.   Davis  —  Bianca  Mojon  —  The  Catholic  Church  — 
Hecker —  "  Dublin  Review  "  —  Diabolical  agency  —  Swedenborgians  and 
Spiritualists  —  Wm.    White  —  Claims  to  infallibility  —  Delachambre  — 
Lessing  —  Object  of  earthly  discipline. 

CHAPTER  XII. 
SPIRITISM,  PRE-EXISTENCE,  &c 326-373 

No  recognition  of  leaders  —  Latour  on  the  phenomena — Allan  Kardec  — 
Spiritism  —  Its  doctrines  —  Re  -  incarnation  —  Rev.  Edward  Beecher's 
"Conflict  of  Ages"  —  Origin  of  evil — J.  S.  Mill  on  the  Calvinist  doc 
trine  —  Whittier  —  A  prevalent  idea  —  Kardec  on  the  spirit-body  —  Henry 
More  on  pre-existence  —  Advocates  of  it — Apparition  of  Ficinus  —  Quo 
tations  from  Herder,  Lessing,  &c.  —  Transmigration  —  Herodotus  — 
Plato's  conception  —  Origen's  —  Hume  —  Rothery  —  Cudworth  —  Scho 
penhauer —  Irenaeus  —  J.  W.  Jackson — Swedenborg  —  A.  J.  Davis  — 
Cahagnet  —  E.  Beecher.  —  Reynaud's  "  Terre  et  Ciel "  —  The  Theological 
hell  —  Pierre  Leroux  on  memory  —  Chaseray  —  Advocates  of  transmigra 
tion —  Instinctive  aspirations  —  Charles  Bonnet  —  Matter  and  spirit  — 
Hostile  camps  of  science  —  Christian  Garve  —  An  American  Platonist  — 
The  poets. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

PSYCHOMETRY  ,':-..V".  V  -A^-V*7  i:?-'V/'"V  'i  ;  .  '*  V  i'-;:':.'"  •  374-3^9 
Modern  science  in  harmony  with  Spiritualism  —  Schroeder  van  der  Kolk  — 
Memory  imperishable  —  Marvels  of  memory — Coleridge  —  Sir  William 
Hamilton  —  Dupotet  —  Sensitives  —  Experiences  of  Zschokke  —  Of  Des- 
champs — Of  Goethe  and  Lavater — Of  Forceythe  Willson  —  Reichen- 
bach's  experiments — Professor  Denton's  "Soul  of  Things  "  —  Dr.  Ber- 
trand  on  the  soul  —  A  knowledge  of  psychometry  an  incentive  to  a  high 
morality. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
COGNATE  FACTS  AND  PHENOMENA 390-400 

Spiritualism  of  the  Bible  —  Augustine  on  miracles  —  Testimony  of  Evodius, 
a  bishop  of  the  early  church  —  The  scholastic  ages  —  Catholic  miracles  — 
Testimony  of  St.  Theresa — Reply  to  Renan  by  MountforH  —  Guardian 
angels — Speaking  in  unknown  tongues — Oriental  phenomena  —  Plan- 
chette  in  China —  Phenomena  among  the  Druses  —  The  North- American 
Indians  —  Why  must  there  be  mediums  —  Davis  on  mediumship  —  S.  J. 
Finney  on  spirit  and  matter — Seneca  —  Death  and  its  sequel — Sudden 
disappearance  of  the  belief  in  witchcraft —  Concluding  remarks. 


v 


PLANCHETTE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

WHAT   SCIENCE   SAYS   OF    IT. 
"  Have  any  of  the  rulers  or  of  the  Pharisees  believed  on  Him?  "  —  St.  John. 

THE  future  historian  of  the  marvellous  cannot  well  avoid 
some  mention  of  the  planchette  or  "  little  plank."  For  his 
benefit,  we  will  remark  that  the  year  1868  witnessed  the  appear 
ance  of  the  planchette,  in  great  numbers,  in  the  booksellers' 
shops  of  the  United  States. 

Why  so  sudden  a  demand  for  it  should  have  sprung  up,  no 
body  could  explain.  Planchette  was  nothing  new.  For  twelve 
or  fifteen  years  it  had  been  common  in  France,  where  it  received 
its  name.  It  was  simply  an  improvement  on  some  ruder  instru 
ment  that  had  been  in  use  among  the  original  American  inves 
tigators,  of  the  year  1848,  into  the  rapping  and  table-tipping 
phenomena. 

The  planchette  is  a  little  heart-shaped  table  with  three  legs, 
one  of  which  is  a  pointed  lead-pencil,  that  can  be  slipped  in  and 
out  of  a  socket,  and  by  means  of  which  marks  can  be  made  on 
paper.  The  other  two  legs  have  casters  attached,  which  can  be 
easily  moved  in  any  direction.  The  size  of  this  table  is  usually 
about  seven  inches  long  and  five  wide.  At  the  apex  of  the  heart 
is  the  socket,  lined  with  rubber,  through  which  the  pencil  is 
thrust. 

Not  improbably,  some  future  antiquarian  will  discover  that 
this  mystic  toy  was  in  use  long  before  the  days  of  Pythagoras. 


..84629 


2  PLANCHETTE. 

The  phenomenon  of  the  tipping  tables  was  known  twenty  cen 
turies  ago. 

The  form  of  the  planchette  is  of  little  consequence,  and  may 
be  regulated  by  the  caprice  of  the  manufacturer.  The  instru 
ment  is  made  light,  so  that  the  slightest  application  offeree  will 
move  it.  As  for  the  insulated  casters  and  other  "patent"  con 
trivances,  they  are  of  no  account,  except  to  give  novelty  to  an 
advertisement. 

When  the  modern  rapping  phenomena  began  to  be  investi 
gated,  communications  were  received  by  the  tedious  process  of 
calling  over  the  alphabet,  and  noting  down  the  letters  at  which 
the  rap  was  given.  Then,  when  the  movements  of  tables  took 
place,  it  was  suggested  that  by  arranging  a  pencil  at  the  foot  of 
a  light  table,  and  placing  a  sheet  of  paper  under  it,  the  intelli 
gent  force  that  was  operating  might  produce  written  sentences. 

The  device  was  tried,  and  found  successful.  The  table,  once 
set  in  motion  by  the  passive  influence  of  a  medium,  began 
to  trace  characters,  then  words  and  sentences.  This  method 
was  finally  simplified  by  substituting  little  tables,  the  size  of  a 
hand ;  then  small  baskets,  pasteboard  boxes,  and  finally  the  flat 
piece  of  wood,  running  on  little  wheels,  and  called  Planchette. 

Here  we  have  the  genealogy  of  the  planchette.  It  is,  you 
see,  the  direct  offspring  of  the  tipping  table.  The  phenomena 
in  which  it  is  made  instrumental  are,  for  the  most  part,  the 
same. 

And  now,  what  will  Planchette  do  ? 

Place  it  on  the  smooth  wood  of  a  table,  and  let  one  person,  or 
two  or  more,  of  a  particular  organization,  rest  the  fingers  on  it 
lightly,  and  it  will  soon  begin  to  move ;  and  this  without  any 
conscious  intent  or  action  on  the  part  of  any  individual  present, 
as  there  is  reason  to  believe. 

Then,  by  placing  a  sheet  of  white  paper  under  the  pencil,  it 
will  be  found  that  intelligible  sentences  will  be  written  out  by 
these  movements. 

There  would  be  nothing  curious  in  all  this,  were  it  not  for  the 
character  of  these  sentences  in  many  instances.  Expressions 


ITS    CAPRICES.  3 

wholly  foreign  to  the  mental  habits  of  the  operators  will  be  found 
on  the  paper.  Thus,  the  pious  will  be  made  to  write  profanely; 
and  the  profane  will  be  suddenly  made  instrumental  in  the  pro 
duction  of  messages  which  might  do  credit  to  Madame  Guyon 
or  to  Vincent  de  Paul.  But  the  results  are  as  various  as  the 
idiosyncrasies  of  individuals. 

Frequently,  answers  to  mental  questions  will  be  given  with  a 
directness  that  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  the  intelligence  of  the  oper 
ating  force. 

For  example  :  the  other  day  an  affectionate  father  put  a  men 
tal  inquiry,  to  which  the  instantaneous  reply,  under  the  hands 
of  a  child,  was  "  A  husband."  The  question  had  been,  "What 
does  Miss  Susan  want?"  The  inquirer  then  asked  what  sum 
he  had  paid  for  repairing  a  certain  garment,  and  the  answer  was 
correctly  given,  "Three  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents." 

What  wonder  that  the  planchette  should  be  getting  to  be  a 
puzzle  and  a  study  to  thousands  of  intelligent  inquirers,  for 
whom  the  great  problems  of  psychology  and  physiology  have  a 
not  irrational  interest? 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  "  little  plank"  will  be  equally 
communicative  under  the  fingers  of  all.  In  the  majority  of  cases 
it  obstinately  refuses  to  move.  The  failures  are  very  numerous. 
Probably  not  more  than  ten  out  of  a  hundred  persons  in  a  mixed 
assemblage  would  be  found,  through  whom  the  phenomena 
would  take  place;  and  in  these  hundred  there  might  possibly  be 
one  who  would  prove  a  good  medium.  Such  a  one  will  soon 
discard  the  planchette  as  of  no  use,  in  the  production  of  phe 
nomena  far  more  extraordinary  than  any  got  by  its  aid. 

The  editor  of  the  "Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry,"  Dr.  James 
R.  Nichols,  with  a  candor  somewhat  rare  among  men  of  science, 
remarks  (September,  1868),  of  the  phenomena  of  Planchette  and 
the  tipping  tables:  "The  position  assumed  by  a  majority  of 
scientific  men  towards  this  class  of  phenomena  is  that  of  entire 
disbelief.  They  do  not  separate  the  physical  disturbances,  the 
outward  show  of  force  by  unseen  agencies,  from  the  spiritual 
interpretation  mixed  up  with,  or  inseparably  connected,  as  they 


4  PLANCHETTE. 

suppose,  with  the  phenomena.  The  whole  matter  is  regarded 
as  a  sham  and  a  delusion,  unworthy  of  thought  or  investiga 
tion. 

"A  considerable  number,  however,  have  reached  a  different 
conclusion.  They  only  direct  attention  to  a  single  point,  and 
first  clear  away  all  the  rubbish  with  which  it  is  incumbered. 
The  great  question  is,  Whether  these  alleged  physical  disturbances 
actually  occur  or  not,  independent  of  direct  and  palpable  human 
agency.  Is  it  mischief,  or  is  it  not?  Is  -it  delusion,  or  is  it  not? 
These  questions  they  have  settled  in  their  own  minds;  and  the 
conclusion  is,  that  the  phenomena  are  undeniably  real. 

"  Not  a  step  further  will  they  go;  beyond  this  all  is  misty  and 
dark.  Many  occupy  this  position  who  hesitate  to  admit  it,  as 
there  is  in  scientific  circles  a  peculiar  sensitiveness  upon  the  subject; 
and  odium  and  disgrace  are  liable  to  rest  on  any  one,  no  matter 
how  high  his  position  may  be,  who  cherishes  a  belief  even  in 
the  reality  of  the  physical  disturbances.  We  incline  to  think 
the  popularity  of  Planchette  may  serve  to  break  a  link  in  the 
chain  of  prejudice  that  binds  fast  honest  convictions,  and  permit 
a  little  more  freedom  in  thought  and  investigation." 

If  the  "  little  plank"  shall  accomplish  as  much  as  this,  it  will 
not  have  been  wholly  unproductive  of  good ;  but  science  must  put 
oif  its  dictatorial  attitude,  and  take  facts  as  the}'  present  them 
selves,  before  it  can  hope  to  make  any  progress  in  the  path  of 
interpretation  and  induction.  The  writer  adds  :  — 

"We  are  asked  to  explain  Planchette.  To  do  this  would  be 
to  explain  a  most  remarkable  and  extensive  class  of  physical 
phenomena,  beginning  with  the  antics  of  the  little  heart-shaped 
table,  and  running  up  through  parlor  table-tippings,  rappings, 
writing,  &c.,  to  the  more  astounding  physical  disturbances, 
noises,  and  hub-bub,  witnessed  in  so  many  dwellings  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe.  There  are  probably  a  dozen  or  more 
families  disturbed  in  this  mysterious  manner  in  the  United  States 
at  the  present  moment;  but  every  effort  is  made  at  concealment, 
as  but  few  people  of  respectability  feel  that  they  can  bear  up 
under  the  public  odium  attached  to  such  proceedings. 


SCIENCK    PUZZLKD.  5 

"We  once,  for  several  hours,  listened  to  the  recital. of  what 
occurred  in  the  dwelling  of  Rev.  Dr.  Phelps,  of  Stratford,  Conn., 
from  the  lips  of  the  venerable  man  himself.  We  were  reduced 
to  the  alternative,  from  listening  to  his  statement,  of  regarding 
him,  his  family,  and  a  wide  circle  of  intelligent  friends,  as  the 
most  egregiously  duped,  deluded,  cheated  circle  of  men  and 
women,  the  greatest  liars  and  impostors,  that  ever  lived,  or  of 
believing  in  the  reality  of  phenomena,  which  human  reason  and 
human  science  were  incompetent  to  explain.  We  felt  compelled 
to  adopt  the  latter  alternative. 

"Thousands,  from  the  strange  and  unusual  character  of  the 
phenomena,  have  been  driven  to  a  belief  in  their  supernatural 
origin,  and  the  unfortunate  delusion  has  spread  throughout  the 
civilized  world.  WTe  incline  to  think  exaggerated  views  are 
entertained  respecting  the  competency  of  scientific  men  to  shed 
light  upon  the  subject.  The  key  to  the  mystery  must  be  found 
before  any  reliable  solution  is  reached.  We  will  not  weary  the 
reader  with  details  of  what  the  writer  has  seen.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  enough  has  been  observed  to  lead  to  the  conclusion,  that 
there  is  one  power,  impulse,  or  force,  in  nature,  regarding  the 
character  ofivhich,  mankind  are  totally  in  the  dark. 

"It  has  proved,  so  far  as  our  experiments  extend,  a  most 
difficult  and  baffling  subject  to  investigate.  The  nature  of  this 
difficulty  is  illustrated  in  Planchette.  Why  cannot  one  person 
cause  it  to  move  as  well  as  another?  Why  does  it  sometimes 
utterly  and  ignominiously  fail  when  those  are  present  who  have 
the  strongest  desire  to  witness  its  movements,  and  when  those 
who  are  supposed  to  influence  its  movements  share  in  this  desire? 
The  attempt,  or  design,  to  carefully  and  methodically  investi 
gate  and  study  the  phenomenon  appears  to  arrest  it.  In  some 
families,  a  lady,  or  a  child  even,  stands  in  such  relations  to  the 
instrument  as  to  cause  it  to  move  by  passing  it  at  a  consider 
able  distance.  It  seems  full  of  impatience  to  work  when  such 
persons  are  in  the  house ;  and  it  will  write,  leap,  and  run  about 
as  if  impelled  by  an  irresistible  impulse.  It  has  occurred,  when 
such  a  family  has  invited  one  or  more  ladies  or  gentlemen  to  an 


0  PLANCriKTTE. 

investigation  of  its  performances,  and  they  have  come,  that  the 
results  have  been  frivolous  and  unsatisfactory.  A  calm,  philo 
sophical,  careful  man  is  not  likely  to  become  convinced  of  the 
reality  of  this  class  of  phenomena  from  such  exhibitions. 

"Several  years  ago  we  invited  a  friend  —  a  highly  distin 
guished  professor  in  one  of  our  largest  Universities  —  to  visit  a 
house  where  certain  extraordinary  physical  disturbances  were 
alleged  to  be  taking  place,  apparently  in  connection  with  a  girl 
about  twelve  years  of  age  belonging  to  the  family.  In  this  in 
stance,  the  power  was  uncommonly  demonstrative,  the  force 
being  brought  to  bear  upon  several  articles  of  furniture,  but 
more  particularly  upon  a  parlor-table,  which  danced  and  tumbled 
about  the  room,  entirely  regardless  of  the  professor's  cool  in 
vestigations  and  ingenious  tests  to  '  discover  the  trick.'  This 
he  entirely  failed  to  accomplish.  There  were  no  conducting 
wires,  springs,  pulleys,  or  levers  to  be  found ;  and  the  little  girl 
and  family  were  manifestly  as  ignorant  of  what  produced  the 
phenomena  as  ourselves.  A  large  number  of  theories  were  pro 
pounded  and  discussed,  not  one  of  which  was  in  the  least  satis 
factory  ;  and  the  whole  affair  remains  a  mystery. 

"In  explanation,  we  hear  it  often  stated  that  it  is  due  to 
animal  magnetism.  Of  course,  such  declarations  must  come 
from  the  unlearned  or  unscientific,  as  science  recognizes  no 
such  force  or  principle  in  nature  as  animal  magnetism.  Some 
kinds  of  fishes  possess  electrical  power,  and  can  impart  shocks ; 
but  then  they  carry  about  with  them  a  little  arrangement  of 
cells  or  batteries,  which  is  the  source  of  the  electrical  force. 
Human  beings  are  not  supposed  to  possess  any  such  endow 
ment.  Jt  is  very  convenient  to  have  a  term  to  apply  in  explana 
tion  of  the  phenomena  among  the  crowd,  although  it  may  be 
entirely  unmeaning  and  empirical.  Electricity  offers  no  expla 
nation  ;  neither  does  magnetism,  as  at  present  understood. 
Chemical  laws  and  principles  are  appealed  to  in  vain  for  a 
solution ;  and  as  regards  ;  odic  force,'  we  have  not  the  slightest 
knowledge  of  what  that  is. 

"  In  conclusion,  we  venture  the  opinion,  that  if  the  phenomena 


THE    PHENOMENA    IRREPRESSIBLE.  7 

are  ever  explained,  they  will  be  found  to  be  due  to  a  blending 
of  the  psychological  and  physical  endowments  of  the  human 
organization,  acting  under  certain  laws  entirely  dissimilar  to 
any  now  known  or  understood.  Who  will  produce  the  key  that 
will  unlock  the  mystery?" 

Such  are  the  conclusions  of  an  educated  chemist  in  regard  to 
these  phenomena  which  have  been  attracting  so  large  a  share 
of  public  attention  for  the  last  twenty  years.  Instead  of  being 
"put  down"  and  "exploded,"  as  we  have  been  repeatedly  told, 
they  are  now  extorting  from  men  of  science  a  reluctant  recogni 
tion,  after  years  of  bitter  hostility  and  denunciation  on  their 
part,  to  which,  however,  there  have  been  conspicuous  excep 
tions. 

Perhaps  Dr.  Nichols  is  a  little  hasty  in  pronouncing  the 
spiritual  hypothesis  "  an  unfortunate  delusion."  This,  to  say 
the  least,  is  as  yet  an  open  question.  But  it  is  something  gained 
to  have  the  phenomena  admitted.  We  may  honestly  differ  as 
to  their  cause.  Having  agreed  upon  the  facts,  —  whatever  our 
theory  as  to  the  origin  may  be,  whether  we  decide  in  favor  of 
some  unknown  force  not  spiritual,  or  conclude,  for  want  of  a 
better  term,  that  the  force  is  spiritual,  —  let  us  not  stigmatize 
those  who  differ  from  us  on  this  point,  as  under  "  an  unfortunate 
delusion." 

The  "  Scientific  American,"  the  principal  scientific  journal  of 
the  United  States,  has  had  its  attention  attracted  by  Planchette 
to  these  despised  phenomena;  and,  in  one  of  its  issues,  of  July, 
1868,  manfully  makes  the  admission,  that  "a  peculiar  class  of 
phenomena  have  manifested  themselves  within  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century,  which  seem  to  indicate  that  the  human  body  may 
become  the  medium  for  the  transmission  of  force  to  inert  and 
dead  matter,  either  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  others,  or  by  the 
action  of  the  nervous  power  upon  the  muscular  system,  in  such 
a  way  that  those  through  whom  or  from  whom  it  emanates  are 
totally  unconscious  of  any  exercise  of  volition,  or  of  any  mus 
cular  movement,  as  acts  of  their  own  wills." 

The  only  expression   here  that  we  would  modify,  is  in  the 


8  PLANCHETTE. 

remark  that  these  phenomena  have  manifested  themselves  with 
in  "the  last  quarter  of  a  century."  The  annals  of  the  race  are 
full  of  them,  back  to  the  first  dawn  of  authentic  history.  They 
have  been  interrogated  and  examined  in  a  different  spirit  dur 
ing  the  last  quarter  of  a  century;  and  that  is  the  only  respect  in 
which  they  can  be  said  to  differ  essentially  from  many  of  the 
phenomena  of  witchcraft,  necromancy,  somnambulism,  mes 
merism,  &c.,  so  long  known-  and  disputed. 

The  same  journal  remarks,  "The  spirit  with  which  scientific 
men  have  looked  upon  these  phenomena  has  been  unfortu 
nately  such  as  has  retarded  their  solution.  Skepticism  as  to 
their  reality,  although  they  were  corroborated  by  evidence  that 
would  be  convincing  upon  any  other  subject;  refusal  to  inves 
tigate,  except  upon  their  own  conditions ;  and  ridicule  not  only 
of  the  phenomena  themselves,  but  of  those  who  believe  in  them,  — 
have  marked  the  course  of  scientific  men  ever  since  these  mani 
festations  have  laid  claim  to  public  credence.  Such  a  spirit 
savors  of  bigotry.  The  phenomena  of  table-tipping,  spirit- 
rapping  so  called,  and  the  various  manifestations  which  many 
have  claimed  to  be  the  effect  of  other  wills  acting  upon  and 
through  the  medium  of  their  persons,  are  exerting  an  immense 
influence,  good  or  bad,  throughout  the  civilized  world.  They 
should,  therefore,  be  candidly  examined ;  and  if  they  are  purely 
physical  phenomena,  as  has  been  claimed,  they  should  be  re 
ferred  to  their  true  cause." 

Dr.  J.  Ray,  well  known  in  the  United  States  for  his  works  on 
Medical  Jurisprudence,  contributes  to  the  "  American  Journal  of 
Insanity,"  of  October,  1867,  a  paper,  in  which  he  admits  that  many 
of  the  facts  of  Spiritualism  "  are  susceptible  of  proof,  and  are 
attested  by  evidence  that  places  them  beyond  a  reasonable 
doubt."  "They  indicate,"  he  says,  "the  existence  of  agencies, 
certainly,  that  have  not  yet  been  admitted  into  the  philosophy 
of  the  schools.  It  is  to  be  regretted,  that  the  present  tendency 
is  to  ignore  them  entirely,  rather  than  to  make  them  a  subject 
of  scientific  investigation.  It  is  surprising  that  physicians, 
especially,  with  such  well-recognized  affections  before  them  as 


RESISTANCE    TO    THE    FACTS.  9 

catalepsy,  somnambulism,  ecstasies,  and  double  consciousness, 
should  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  all  the  facts  of  Spiritualism 
and  animal  magnetism  are  utterly  anomalous  and  impossible." 

The  first  elaborate  attempt  to  give  a  bad  name  to  these  phe 
nomena  was  the  "knee-joint  theory"  of  Drs.  Lee  and  Flint,  in 
1849.  ^  was  declared  that  the  raps  were  made  by  a  slipping  of 
the  knee-joint,  and  a  pamphlet  was  published  to  prove  it.  In 
numerable  were  the  denunciations  from  scientific  quarters,  that 
then  followed  the  contemned  phenomena.  The  testimony  of 
thousands  of  competent  witnesses  was  set  aside  as  worthless. 
They  did  not  know  "how  to  observe."  They  had  not  had  the 
advantage  of  a  "thorough  scientific  training;"  and  they  could 
not  use  their  eyes  and  ears  and  other  senses  in  a  manner  to 
afford  any  guaranty  whatever  that  they  were  not  under  an  hallu 
cination. 

Such  was  the  language  of  the  late  Professor  Felton,  of  Har 
vard  College;  and  in  England,  of  the  celebrated  Faraday  and  of 
Sir  David  Brewster. 

Every  now  and  then  paragraphs  would  appear  in  the  news 
papers,  headed  "The  humbug  exploded  at  last,"  "Spiritualism 
exposed,"  &c.  And  then  we  would  be  told  that  some  "medium" 
had  turned  State's  evidence,  and  had  revealed  how  the  "tricks" 
were  accomplished.  There  have  been  many  such  mediums, 
who,  having  failed  to  attract  attention  by  genuine  phenomena, 
have  hoped  to  reach  the  public  ear  and  the  public  purse  by 
undertaking  to  disclose  how  the  manifestations  were  brought 
about.  But,  like  Balaam,  they  could  not  curse  whom  God  would 
not  curse. 

All  such  attempts  on  the  part  of  deserters  have  resulted  in  lit 
tle  that  was  satisfactory ;  although  they  have  had  a  good  effect  in 
making  investigators  more  wary,  by  showing  that  some  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  dark  circles,  especially  the  rope-tying  experi 
ments,  may  be  adroitly  simulated. 

In  the  year  1857,  a  reward  having  been  offered  by  the  publish 
ers  of  the  "Boston  Courier"  for  the  production  of  certain  phe 
nomena,  a  well-known  investigator,  Dr.  H,  F.  Gardner,  of 


IO  PLANCHETTE. 

Boston,  undertook  to  exhibit  them  before  a  committee  of  pro 
fessors  of  Harvard  University,  composed  of  Benjamin  Peirce, 
Louis  Agassiz,  B.  A.  Gould,  and  E.  N.  Horsford,  all  of  them 
gentlemen  of  the  highest  scientific  distinction. 

The  result  of  the  rash  experiment  may  be  read  in  the  follow 
ing  report,  made  by  this  committee,  and  dated  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  June  29,  1857:  — 

"The  Committee  award  that  Dr.  Gardner  having  failed  to 
produce  before  them  an  agent  or  medium  who  '  communicated  a 
word  imparted  to  the  spirits  in  an  adjoining  room,'  'who  read 
a  word  in  English  written  inside  a  book  or  folded  sheet  of 
paper,'*  who  answered  any  question  'which  the  superior  intel 
ligence  must  be  able  to  answer,'  who  '  tilted  a  piano  without 
touching  it,  or  caused  a  chair  to  move  a  foot,'  and  having  failed 
to  exhibit  to  the  committee  any  phenomenon  which,  under  the 
widest  latitude  of  interpretation,  could  be  regarded  as  equivalent 
to  either  of  these  proposed  tests,  or  any  phenomenon  which 
required  for  its  production,  or  in  any  manner  indicated  a  force 
which  could  technically  be  denominated  spiritual,  or  which  was 
hitherto  unknown  to  science,  or  a  phenomenon  of  which  the 
cause  was  not  palpable  to  the  committee,  is,  therefore,  not  enti 
tled  to  claim  from  the  '  Boston  Courier '  the  proposed  premium 
of  five  hundred  dollars. 

"  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  derived  from  observa 
tion,  that  any  connection  with  spiritualistic  circles,  so  called, 
corrupts  the  morals  and  degrades  the  intellect.  They  therefore 
deem  it  their  solemn  duty  to  warn  the  community  against  this 
contaminating  influence,  which  surely  tends  to  lessen  the  truth 
of  man  and  the  purity  of  woman. 

*  That  there  has  been  some  progress  since  the  Cambridge  professors  set  down  this 
phenomenon  of  seeing  through  opaque  substances  as  one  of  their  impossibilities,  may 
be  seen  from  the  "Edinburgh  Review"  (July,  1868),  where  that  highly  conservative 
authority  admits  the  fact,  as  follows:  "Sleep-walkers  have  been  known,  who  could 
not  only  walk,  and  perform  all  ordinary  acts  in  the  dark  as  well  as  in  the  light,  but  who 
went  on  writing  or  reading  without  interruption,  though  an  opaque  substance  —  a  book 
or  a  slate  —  was  interposed,  and  would  dot  the  fs  and  cross  the  fs  with  unconscious 
correctness,  without  any  use  of  their  eyes." 


CAMBRIDGE    UTTERS    HER    PROTEST.  II 

"The  committee  will  publish  a  report  of  their  proceedings, 
together  with  the  results  of  additional  investigations  and  other 
evidence,  independent  of  the  special  case  submitted  to  them,  but 
bearing  upon  the  subject  of  this  stupendous  delusion." 

The  promised  report  has  not  yet  (1868)  seen  the  light. 

The  solemn  admonitions  of  the  Cambridge  professors  against 
the  "  stupendous  delusion  "  seem  to  have  been  of  little  effect  in 
repressing  inquiry  or  checking  belief  in  the  manifestations  ;  inas 
much  as  Spiritualists  who  could  then  be  reckoned  by  thousands 
must  now  be  estimated  at  millions. 

Dr.  Gardner,  on  his  side,  reported  that  the  four  learned  gen 
tlemen  insisted  upon  prescribing  conditions  that  were  fatal  to  the 
production  of  the  subtle  and  evasive  phenomena,  obtained,  inde 
pendently  of  the  will,  from  various  mediums. 

On  this  occasion,  the  mediums  were  Miss  Kate  Fox,  Mrs.  Brown 
(of  the  Fox  family),  Mr.  J.  V.  Mansfield,  Mr.  Kendrick,  the 
Davenport  Brothers,  and  Dr.  G.  A.  Redman,  since  deceased. 

Raps  were  produced,  but  the  committee  were  not  satisfied  that 
this  now  common  manifestation,  which  no  intelligent  person 
questions,  was  not  some  mechanical  trick. 

At  the  first  sitting,  Mr.  Agassiz  and  others  refused  to  sit  at  the 
table.  The  committee  had  agreed  to  make  the  conditions  har 
monious,  as  far  as  they  could.  Here,  at  the  outset,  was  a  devia 
tion  which  discomposed  the  mediums.  Mr.  Redman,  in  his 
"Mystic  Hours,"  states,  that,  on  being  importuned  to  join  the 
circle,  Mr.  Agassiz  averred  that  he  had  sworn  never  to  sit  in  a 
circle,  and  meant  to  adhere  to  his  oath. 

Redman  significantly  asks,  "  For  what  was  he  present?  Re 
ceiving  no  manifestations  of  any  consequence,  Dr.  Gardner  and 
myself  retired  to  an  ante-room  to  inquire  of  the  operating 
intelligence  what  next  should  be  done?  Scarcely  were  we 
seated  at  the  table,  when  it  moved  violently ;  and  a  communica 
tion  was  written,  from  right  to  left,  to  the  purport,  that  unless 
all  present  were  willing  to  receive,  and  shaped  their  actions 
accordingly,  nothing  could  be  done.  We  announced  the  sub 
stance  of  the  message  to  the  party.  Mr.  Agassiz  desired  to  see 


12  PLANCHETTE. 

the  manuscript :  it  was  shown  to  him ;  when,  without  hesita 
tion,  he  declared  /  had  written  it,  and  '  that  it  was  sheer 
humbug.'  .  .  . 

"I  now  politely  invited  Mr.  Agassiz  to  join  me  in  the  ante 
room,  and  we  would  try  alone ;  that  no  doubt  he  would  be  more 
successful.  '  Sit  with  you  /"  said  Mr.  A.,  'No!  'I  have  resolved 
to  sit  with  no  one.  I  made  up  my  mind  before  coming  here, 
that  nothing  would  come  of  it;  and  I  am  only  the  more  con 
vinced  it  is  all  deception.'  I  could  say  no  more." 

The  experiments  with  the  Brothers  Davenport  were  reserved 
for  the  last.  The  following  is  the  account  given  by  Dr.  T.  L. 
Nichols,  their  English  biographer  (1865)  :  — 

"  At  the  beginning,  the v  were  submitted  to  a  cross-examina 
tion.  The  professors  exercised  their  ingenuity  in  proposing 
tests.  '  Would  they  submit  to  be  handcuffed  ? '  — '  Yes.'  — '  Would 
they  allow  men  to  hold  them?' —  'Yes.'  A  dozen  propositions 
were  made,  accepted,  and  then  rejected  by  those  who  made  them. 
If  any  test  was  accepted  by  the  brothers,  that  was  reason  enough 
for  not  trying  it.  They  were  supposed  to  be  prepared  for  that, 
so  some  other  must  be  found.  It  was  of  no  use  to  put  them  to 
any  test  to  which  they  were  ready  and  apparently  eager  to 
submit. 

"At  last  the  ingenious  professors  fell  back  upon  rope,  —  their 
own  rope  and  plenty  of  it.  They  brought  five  hundred  feet  of 
new  rope,  selected  for  the  purpose.  They  bored  the  cabinet,  set 
up  in  one  of  their  own  rooms,  and  to  which  they  had  free 
access,  full"  of  holes.  They  tied  the  two  boys  in  the  most 
thorough  and  the  most  brutal  manner.  They  have,  as  any  one 
may  see,  or  feel,  small  wrists,  and  hands  large  in  proportion,  — 
good,  solid  hands,  which  cannot  be  slipped  through  a  ligature 
which  fits  even  loosely  on  the  wrists.  When  they  were  tied 
hand  and  foot,  arms,  legs,  and  in  every  way,  and  with  every  kind 
of  complicated  knotting,  the  ropes  were  drawn  through  the  holes 
bored  in  the  cabinet,  and  firmly  knotted  outside  so  as  to  make  a 
network  over  the  boys.  After  all,  the  knots  were  tied  with  linen 
thread. 


THE    PROFESSORS    NONPLUSSED.  13 

"  Professor  Peirce  then  took  his  place  in  the  cabinet  between 
the  two  brothers,  who  could  scarcely  breathe,  so  tightly  were 
they  secured.  As  he  entered,  Professor  Agassiz  was  seen  to  put 
something  in  his  hand.  The  side  doors  were  closed  and  fastened. 
The  centre  door  was  no  sooner  shut  than  the  bolt  was  shot  on 
them  inside,  and  Professor  Peirce  stretched  out  both  hands  to 
see  which  of  the  two  firmly  bound  boys  had  done  it.  The  phan 
tom  hand  was  shown,  the  instruments  were  rattled  :  the  profes 
sor  felt  them  about  his  head  and  face,  and  at  every  movement 
kept  pawing  on  each  side  with  his  hands,  to  find  the  boys  both 
bound  as  firm  as  ever.  Then  the  mysterious  present  of  Pro 
fessor  Agassiz  became  apparent.  The  professor  ignited  some 
phosphorus  by  rubbing  it  between  his  hands,  and  half-suffocated 
himself  and  the  boys  with  its  fumes  in  trying  to  see  the  trick  or 
the  confederate. 

"At  last,  both  boys  were  untied  from  all  the  complicated 
fastenings  without  and  within  the  cabinet;  and  the  ropes  were 
found  twisted  around  the  neck  of  the  watchful  Professor  Peirce ! 
Well,  and  what  came  of  it  all?  Did  the  professors  of  Harvard 
tell  what  they  had  seen?  Not  in  the  least.  To  this  day  they 
have  made  no  report  whatever  of  the  result  of  their  investiga 
tion,  and  are  probably,  to  this  day,  denouncing  it  all  as  humbug, 
imposture,  delusion,  &c.  What  can  a  man  of  science  do  with  a 
fact  he  cannot  account  for,  except  deny  it?  It  is  the  simplest 
way  of  overcoming  a  difficulty,  and  avoiding  the  confession  that 
there  is  something  in  the  world  which  he  does  not  understand. 
Of  all  men  in  the  world,  men  of  science,  and  especially  scien 
tific  professors,  are  the  last  to  acknowledge  that  '  there  are  more 
things  in  heaven  and  earth,  than  are  dreamt  of  in  their  phi 
losophy.'" 

Thus  ended  the  famous  investigation  into  the  phenomena  by 
the  Cambridge  professors.  As  appropriate  to  the  subject,  we 
quote  the  following  remarks  from  a  letter  by  the  late  Dr.  William 
Gregory,  of  Edinburgh,  a  well-known  writer  and  physician  :  — 

"The  rational  inquirer  will  soon  find  that  there  are  innumera 
ble  causes  of  failure, — such  as  the  state  of  health  of  the  sub- 


14  PI.ANCHETTE. 

ject;  the  state  of  the  weather;  the  state  of  body  or  mind  of  the 
experimenter;  and  last,  not  least,  the  influence  of  the  bystand 
ers,  above  all  if  they  be  skeptical,  prejudiced,  or  excited  by  con 
troversy.  Whether  in  magnetism,  in  clairvoyance,  or  spiritual 
manifestations,  we  who  have  experimented  know  these  things; 
but  the  scientific  committees  never  do,  and  hence  they  most 
unreasonably  expect,  and  indeed  some  observers  as  unreasona 
bly  promise,  uniform  success,  as  the  test  of  truth. 

"  For  many  years  past  I  have  never  accepted  any  such  chal 
lenge  or  test;  nor  have  I  made  anv  attempt  to  convince,  in  this 
way,  men  who  are  capable  of  expressing  decided  opinions  pre 
vious  to  their  having  examined  the  subject.  All  that  I  ever 
consent  to  do  is  to  make  the  trial,  on  the  express  understanding 
that  failure  proves  nothing  as  to  the  disputed  truth.  And  even 
then  I  reject  all  dictation  as  to  conditions,  as  I  will  only  experi 
ment  under  the  conditions  presented  by  Nature,  to  whom  the 
skeptics  have  no  right  to  dictate.  Our  duty  is  to  study  Nature  as 
she  presents  herself,  and  to  take  the  facts  as  we  find  them.  We 
may  alter  the  conditions  if  we  please ;  but  we  have  no  right 
to  insist  that  the  facts  shall  be  produced  under  such  altered 
conditions  as  the  uneducated  judgment  may  dictate  or  fancy 
suggest." 

In  England  the  savans  have  been  quite  as  intractable  as  their 
American  brethren.  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  settles  the  question 
on  a  priori  grounds,  as  glibly  as  if  Bacon  had  not  long  since 
shown  the  absurdity  of  a  priori  objections  to  attested  facts. 
Professor  W.  D.  Gunning,  of  Boston,  who  lately  (1868)  had  an 
interview  with  Mr.  Spencer,  writes  :  "  In  the  course  of  the  con 
versation,  he  referred  to  a  great  naturalist.  'Mr.  Spencer,'  said 

I,  'do  you  know  that  Mr.  has  become  a  Spiritualist?' 

'Yes, 'he  said,  'and  I  am  greatly  surprised.'  'Did  you  ever 
look  at  the  phenomena?'  'No,'  he  said,  'I  never  did.  I  have 
settled  this  question  in  my  own  mind  on  a  priori  grounds'! 
Now,  Herbert  Spencer,  for  whose  power  as  a  thinker  no  one  has  a 
higher  respect  than  myself,  is  writing  a  great  work  on  psy 
chology;  and  he  settles  these  questions  of  odyle,  trance,  and  of 


FARADAY'S  TEST.  15 

obsession  —  involving  the  very  nature  of  the  soul  and  its  pow 
ers —  on  a  priori  grounds.  The  savans  had  settled  the  impossi 
bility  of  meteoric  stones  a  priori.  But  things  settled  in  that 
way  won't  stay  settled." 

Everybody  has  heard  of  the  philosopher  who  refused  to  look 
through  a  microscope,  on  being  told  it  would  unsettle  a  favorite 
theory. 

In  England,  the  late  Professor  Faraday  committed  himself,  at 
an  early  period,  against  the,  possibility  of  the  "spiritual"  phe 
nomena.  His  declaration  that,  "  before  we  proceed  to  consider 
any  question  involving  physical  principles,  we  should  set  out 
with  clear  ideas  of  the  naturally  possible  and  impossible,"  was 
severely  handled  by  Professor  A.  De  Morgan,  the  distinguished 
mathematician. 

The  whole  assumption  on  which  Faraday  based  his  objection 
to  facts  of  supposed  spiritual  agency  was  a  misconception. 
Neither  in  table-moving  nor  any  other  of  these  phenomena  is 
the  creation  of  force  implied,  as  he  imagined,  but  simply  the 
employment  of  existing  forces  by  invisible  intelligences ;  a  view 
which,  whether  it  be  true  or  false,  is  at  least  not  manifestly  im 
possible. 

The  only  practical  suggestion  on  this  subject  by  Faraday  was 
the  employment  of  an  instrument  to  test  whether  the  alleged 
table-movements  were,  or  were  not,  caused  by  the  muscular 
pressure  of  the  sitters  around  it;  but,  apart  from  other  consid 
erations,  this  suggestion  was  at  once  disposed  of  by  the  fact 
that  these  movements  frequently  occurred  without  the  slightest 
contact  with  the  table. 

In  1865.  Faraday  wrote,  "They  who  say  they  see  these  things 
are  not  competent  witnesses  of  facts." 

The  facts  which  Faraday  had  so  unhesitatingly  pronounced  to 
proceed  from  involzintary  muscular  action,  and  from  no  other 
cause,  had  become  so  unruly,  that,  after  some  fruitless  attempts 
to  right  himself,  he  gave  up  the  subject  in  disgust. 

At  length,  however,  the  numerous  and  circumstantial  descrip 
tions  given  by  men  of  high  note,  and  dinned  into  his  ears,  had 


I  6  PLANCHETTE. 

their  efYect;  and  he  signified  his  desire  to  see  for  himself.  A 
meeting  was  accordingly  arranged  for  him  by  Sir  Emerson 
Tennant,  at  which  Mr.  Home,  the  medium,  was  to  be  present. 
But,  lo !  the  day  before  the  sitting  was  to  have  been  held,  Fara 
day  demanded  a  programme  of  ivhat  -was  to  take  place  ! 

In  a  letter  dated  June  14,  1861,  he  says,  ''It  would  be  a  con 
descension  on  my  part  to  pay  any  more  attention  to  them  [the 
occult  phenomena]  now."  He  asks,  "Does  Mr.  Home  wish  me 
to  go?  Is  he  willing  to  investigate  as  a  philosopher,  and,  as 
such,  to  have  no  concealments,  no  darkness?  .  .  .  Does  he  make 
himself  responsible  for  the  effects,  and  identify  himself  more  or 
less  with  their  cause?  Would  he  be  glad  if  their  delusive  charac 
ter  were  established  and  exposed ;  and  would  he  gladly  help  to 
expose  it,  or  would  he  be  annoyed  and  personally  offended? 
Does  he  consider  the  effects  natural  or  supernatural?  If  natural, 
what  are  the  laws  which  govern  them?  or  does  he  think  they 
are  not  subject  to  laws  ?  If  supernatural,  does  he  suppose  them 
to  be  miracles  or  the  work  of  spirits?  If  the  work  of  spirits, 
•would  an  insult  to  the  spirits  be  considered  as  an  insult  to  him 
self?  If  the  effects  are  miracles,  or  the  work  of  spirits,  does  he 
admit  the  utterly  contemptible  character,  both  of  them  and  their 
results,  up  to  the  present  time,  in  respect  either  of  yielding 
information  or  instruction,  or  supplying  any  force  or  action  of 
the  least  value  to  mankind?" 

Such  was  the  spirit  in  which  the  great  scientist  approached 
the  subject.  And  Mr.  John  Tyndall,  the  eulogist  of  Faraday, 
and  hardly  his  inferior  as  a  man  of  science,  makes  the  follow 
ing  announcement,  vinder  date  of  May  8,  1868  :  "  I  hold  myself  in 
readiness  to  witness  and  investigate,  in  the  spirit  of  the  forego 
ing  letter,  such  phenomena  as  Mr.  Home  may  wish  to  reveal  to 
me  during  the  month  of  June." 

Mr.  Tyndall,  echoing  Faraday,  calls  upon  Mr.  Home,  as  pre 
liminary  to  the  "condescension"  of  an  investigation  by  Mr. 
Tyndall,  to  "  admit  the  utterly  contemptible  character  of  the 
manifestations  and  their  results  " ! 

In  his  reply  to  Mr.  Tyndall,  Mr.  Home  writes,   "I  would  ask 


SCIENCE    ON    THE    HIGH    HORSE.  1 7 

if  this  is  the  tone  of  a  humble  student  and  inquirer,  prepared  to 
analyze  and  ascertain  facts,  or  whether  it  be  not  the  sign  of  a 
mind  far  gone  in  prejudging  the  question  at  issue?  .  .  .  When 
these  matters  first  engaged  public  attention,  Professor  Faraday 
had,  unfortunately,  publicly  decided  they  were  due  to  involun 
tary  muscular  action ;  and,  as  time  went  on,  every  development 
of  them  which  proved  the  incorrectness  of  his  explanation  was 
received  almost  as  a  personal  affront  by  him.  .  .  .  Mr.  Tyndall 
says  he  is  ready  to  witness  and  investigate  in  the  spirit  of  Mr. 
Faraday's  letter.  From  the  attitude  he  takes  up,  I  fully  believe 
it;  and  as  such  spirit  is  not  that  of  logic,  nor  according  to  the 
true  scientific  method,  I  will  wait  until  he  can  approach  the  sub 
ject  in  a  more  humble  frame  of  mind." 

Mr.  Tyndall  having  introduced  into  his  correspondence  the 
name  of  Mr.  W.  M.  Wilkinson,  that  gentleman  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  "Pall  Mall  Gazette,"  of  London,  in  which,  referring  to 
Mr.  Tyndall's  proposition  to  retain  Faraday's  preliminary  tests, 
he  says,  if  conditions  are  to  be  the  order  of  the  day,  he  would 
like  answers  from  Mr.  Tyndall  on  certain  preliminaries  :  — 

"  If  he  insist  on  having  an  answer  to  the  question  whether 
what  he  is  about  to  investigate  '  can  be  of  any  use  or  value  to 
mankind,'  I  shall  require  him  to  answer  whether  the  cuibono  has 
been  introduced  into  science  as  a  bar  to  inquiry,  and,  if  so,  when  ? 
The  history  of  science  is  full  of  instances  in  which  centuries  have 
elapsed  between  the  observation  of  phenomena  and  their  appli 
cation  to  useful  purposes.  More  than  a  thousand  years  the 
world  had  to  wait  before  the  known  qualities  of  conic  sections 
were  applied  in  carpentry ;  and  it  was  many  years  before  the  first 
experiments  in  electricity  ended  in  the  electric  telegraph." 

When  the  Davenport  Brothers  visited  England  in  1864,  yet 
another  opportunity  was  offered  Professor  Faraday  to  set  him 
self  right  on  the  great  question.  Twenty-four  gentlemen  met  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Dion  Boucicault,  and,  after  a  most  searching 
and  thorough  investigation  of  the  manifestations,  unanimously 
agreed,  that  they  "  could  arrive  at  no  other  conclusion  than  that 
there  was  no  trace  of  trickery  in  any  form,  and  certainly  there 

2 


I 8  PLANCHETTE. 

were  neither  confederates  nor  machinery;  and  that,  so  far  as 
their  investigations  enabled  them  to  form  an  opinion,  the  phe 
nomena  which  had  taken  place  in  their  presence  were  not  the 
product  of  legerdemain." 

Professor  Faraday  was  one  of  those  invited;  and,  on  this  oc 
casion,  he  might  have  had,  what  on  the  former  occasion  he  had 
thought  so  necessary,  a  programme ;  inasmuch  as  with  the 
Davenports  the  same  general  order  of  phenomena,  and  in  the 
same  sequence,  usually  take  place.  This  time,  however,  the  de 
mand  was  not  repeated;  but;  while  acknowledging  the  courteous 
invitation  of  the  Brothers,  he  expressed  himself  "disappointed" 
with  the  "manifestations,"  and  therefore  left  them  "in  the 
hands  of  the  professors  of  legerdemain." 

"If,"  he  wrote,  "spirit  communications,  not  utterly  worth 
less,  should  happen  to  start  into  activity,  I  will  trust  the  spirits 
to  find  out  for  themselves  koiv  they  can  move  my  attention.  I  am 
tired  of  them" 

It  is  barely  possible  that  the  spirits  did  not  regard  it  as  a  mat 
ter  of  supreme  importance  to  find  out  how  they  might  move  Mr. 
Faraday's  attention. 

Among  the  gentlemen  present  at  the  meeting  which  Faraday 
declined  to  attend,  and  all  of  whom  testified  to  the  good  faith 
with  which  the  experiments  were  conducted,  were  Lord  Bury ; 
Sir  Charles  Nicholson;  Sir  John  Gardiner;  Rev.  E.  H.  Newen- 
ham  ;  Charles  Reade,  author  of  "  Foul  Play,"  &c. ;  Rev.  W.  Ellis  ; 
Captain  Inglefield,  the  Arctic  explorer ;  Robert  Bell,  the  author ; 
Robert  Chambers,  publisher  and  author;  Dr.  E.  Tyler  Smith; 
and  other  well-known  persons. 

The  late  Sir  David  Brewster  was  almost  as  unfortunate  as 
Faraday  in  his  relations  to  this  perplexing  subject.  In  the  early 
part  of  1855,  on  the  invitation  of  Mr.  William  Cox,  of  Jermyn 
Street,  London,  Brewster  was  at  a  seance,  where  Mr.  Home  was 
the  medium.  The  late  Lord  Brougham,  the  late  Mrs.  Trollope, 
her  son  Mr.  Thomas  Trollope,  and  Mr.  Benjamin  Coleman,  were 
also  present.  Seated  in  a  private  room,  in  the  open  light  of  day, 
the  party  saw.  among  other  extraordinary  things,  a  heavv  table 


SIR    DAVID    LOSES    HIS    TEMPKR.  19 

rise  from  the  floor;  a  phenomenon  which  Faraday  had  asserted 
the  "  undeviating  truth"  of  Newton's  law  would  not  permit,  and 
which,  to  believe  in,  was  proof  of  "deficiency  of  judgment." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Coleman  (Oct.  9,  1855),  Brewster  writes, 
"It  is  true  that,  at  Mr.  Cox's  house,  Mr.  Home,  Mr.  Cox,  Lord 
Brougham,  and  myself  sat  down  to  a  small  table,  Mr.  Home 
having  previously  requested  us  to  examine  if  there  was  any  ma 
chinery  about  his  person ;  an  examination,  however,  which  we 
declined  to  make.  When  all  our  hands  were  upon  the  table, 
noises  were  heard,  rappings  in  abundance;  and  finally,  when 
we  rose  up,  the  table  actually  rose,  as  appeared  to  me,  from  the 
ground.  This  result  I  do  not  attempt  to  explain." 

In  a  conversation  afterwards  with  Mr.  Coleman,  as  the  latter 
testifies,  Sir  David  Brewster  scouted  the  idea  of  there  having 
been  trick  or  delusion  in  the  matter;  but  said,  "  Spirit  is  the  last 
thing  I  iv  ill  give  in  to" 

At  first  stunned  and  surprised,  Sir  David  seems  to  have  subse 
quently  been  laughed  out  of  his  profound  impressions,  and  to  have 
joined  the  scoffers.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  the  "Morning  Adver 
tiser."  in  which  he  affected  to  cast  ridicule  on  the  subject.  Mr. 
Cox,  Mr.  Trollope,  and  Mr.  Coleman,  each  wrote  to  refute  Sir 
David,  and  placed  him  in  a  position  before  the  public  not  the 
most  honorable  to  his  consistency  and  courage. 

Goaded  by  these  confutations,  he  afterwards,  in  a  published 
address,  dismissed  the  stupendous  amount  of  testimony  con 
firming  the  phenomena  of  Spiritualism,  with  the  following 
words  :  "  All  such  beliefs  are  the  result  of  an  imperfect  education, 
of  the  want  of  general  knowledge.  They  are  the  observations 
of  ill-trained  faculties,  the  cravings  of  morbid  and  mystic  tem 
peraments  that  have  been  suckled  on  the  husks  and  garbage  of 
literature,"  &c. 

And  yet  his  own  letter  is  in  existence,  in  which  he  says,  "  This 
result  [the  rising  of  the  table]  I  do  not  attempt  to  explain"! 

He  sees  a  table  under  his  nose  rise  from  the  ground ;  does  not 
attempt  to  explain  it;  will,  on  reflection,  rather  distrust  his 
senses  than  admit  that  the  fact  was  other  than  an  appearance; 


2O  PLANCHETTE. 

and  contents  himself  with  referring  the  belief  of  others,  seeing 
a  similar  thing,  and  believing  that  they  see  it,  to  "ill-trained 
faculties  " ! 

If  such  is  to  be  the  last  word  of  science  on  the  subject,  is  it  to 
be  wondered  that  science  has  been  told  not  to  block  the  way? 

It  is  pleasant  to  turn  from  these  instances  of  arrogance  and 
illiberality  on  the  part  of  men  of  science  to  others  of  a  very  dif 
ferent  character,  from  men  who  are  their  peers.  The  late  Pro 
fessor  Hare  (born,  in  Philadelphia,  1781,  died  1858)  was  eminent 
both  as  a  chemist  and  electrician.  For  twenty-nine  years  he  was 
professor  of  chemistry  in  the  medical  school  of  the  university 
of  Pennsylvania.  After  first  maintaining,  in  a  published  letter, 
dated  July  27,  1853,  the  mechanical  view  of  the  phenomena  taken 
by  Faraday,  Dr.  Hare  instituted  a  series  of  scientific  tests  and 
experiments,  the  result  of  which  was,  that  he  became  convinced 
there  was  a  new  order  of  facts  which  could  not  be  explained  on 
Faraday's  theory.  Though  he  may  be  charged  with  credulity  in 
accepting  much  that  came  by  supposed  spiritual  communi 
cations,  no  one  can  deny  that  he  investigated  the  physical  phe 
nomena  with  a  rare  amount  of  patience1  and  skill.  He  was 
thoroughly  convinced  of  the  genuineness  of  the  manifesta 
tions. 

Dr.  Hare  had  been  an  unbeliever  in  deity  and  in  the  immor 
tality  of  the  soul.  Shortly  before  his  death,  he  avowed  himself 
not  only  a  Spiritualist,  but  "  a  believer  in  revelation,  and  in  a 
revelation  through  Jesus  of  Nazareth." 

Somewhat  similar  to  the  experience  of  Dr.  Hare  was  that  of 
Dr.  John  Elliotson,  F.R.S.,  president  of  the  Royal  Medical  and 
Chirurgical  Society  of  London,  and  who  died  July,  1868,  at  the 
age  of  eighty.  He  had  been  a  fearless  investigator  of  the  phe 
nomena  of  mesmerism,  but  had  rejected  some  of  the  higher 
marvels  of  somnambulism  and  clairvoyance.  A  materialist  in 
his  belief,  he  had  written  an  elaborate  treatise  denying  the  ex 
istence  of  an  immortal  soul.  He  denounced  all  mediums  as 
impostors,  and  regarded  as  mere  delusions  the  facts  claimed  by 
modern  Spiritualism. 


SCIENTIFIC    RE-ACTION.  21 

In  the  year  1863,  being  at  Dieppe,  he  was  introduced  to  Mr. 
D.  D.  Home,  and  spent  some  time  in  investigating,  with  the  aid 
of  the  sons  of  his  friend,  Dr.  Symes,  the  phenomena  attributed 
to  Spiritualism.  The  result  was,  in  the  language  of  the  "  London 
Morning  Post,"  of  Aug.  3,  1868,  "  that  he  expressed  his  convic 
tion  of  the  truth  of  the  phenomena,  and  became  a  sincere  Chris 
tian,  whose  handbook  henceforth  was  the  Bible.  Some  time 
after  this,  he  said  he  had  been  living  all  his  life  in  darkness,  and 
had  thought  there  was  nothing  in  existence  but  the  material." 

Professor  A.  De  Morgan,  of  London,  as  contemporary  encyclo 
paedias  will  show,  is  of  the  first  eminence  as  a  mathematician. 
In  1863,  a  volume  of  some  four  hundred  pages,  from  the  pen  of 
his  wife,  appeared,  bearing  the  title,  "From  Matter  to  Spirit: 
the  Result  of  Ten  Years'  Experience  in  Spirit  Manifestations." 
The  preface  is  by  the  professor  himself;  and  in  it  he  plainly  ad 
mits  his  belief  in  the  reality  of  the  phenomena,  although  incred 
ulous  as  to  their  spiritual  origin. 

"I  have  no  acquaintance,"  he  says,  "either  with  P.  or  Q^; 
but  I  feel  sure  that  the  decided  conviction  of  all  who  can  see 
both  sides  of  the  shield  must  be,  that  it  is  more  likely  that  P. 
has  seen  a  ghost  than  that  Q^  knoivs  he  cannot  have  seen  one." 

"I  am  perfectly  convinced,"  he  says,  "that  I  have  both  seen 
and  heard,  in  a  manner  which  should  make  unbelief  impossible, 
things  called  spiritual,  which  cannot  be  taken  by  a  rational  being 
to  be  capable  of  explanation  by  imposture,  coincidence,  or  mis 
take.  So  far  I  fee.1  the  ground  firm  under  me.  But  when  it 
comes  to  what  is  the  cause  of  these  phenomena,  I  find  I  cannot 
adopt  any  explanation  which  has  yet  been  suggested.  .  .  . 
Spirit  or  no  spirit,  there  is  at  least  a  reading  of  one  mind  by 
something  out  of  that  mind.  .  .  . 

"The  Spiritualists,  beyond  a  doubt,  are  in  the  track  that  has 
led  to  all  advancement  in  physical  science  :  their  opponents  are 
the  representatives  of  those  who  have  striven  against  prog 
ress.  .  .  . 

"There  is  a  higher  class  of  obstructives  who,  without  jest  or 
sarcasm,  bring  up  principles,  possibilities,  and  the  nature  of 


22  PJLANCHETTE. 

things.  These  most  worthy  and  respectable  opponents  are,  if 
wrong,  -  to  be  reckoned  the  lineal  descendants  of  those  who 
proved  the  earth  could  not  be  round,  because  the  people  on  the 
other  side  would  then  tumble  off.  .  .  . 

"I  have  said  that  the  deluded  spirit-rappers  are  on  the  right 
track :  they  have  the  spirit  and  the  method  of  the  grand  time 
when  those  paths  were  cut  through  the  uncleared  forest  in  which 
it  is  now  the  daily  routine  to  walk.  What  was  that  spirit?  It 
was  the  spirit  of  universal  examination,  wholly  unchecked  by 
fear  of  being  detected  in  the  examination  of  nonsense.  .  .  . 

"  I  hold  those  persons  to  be  incautious  who  give  in  at  once  to 
the  spirit  doctrine,  and  never  stop  to  imagine  the  possibility  of 
unknown  power  other  than  disembodied  intelligence.  But  I  arn 
sure  that  this  calling  in  of  the  departed  spirit,  because  they  do 
not  know  what  else  to  fix  it  on,  may  be  justified  by  those  who 
do  it,  upon  the  example  of  the  philosophers  of  our  own 
day.  .  .  . 

"  My  state  of  mind,  which  refers  the  whole  either  to  unseen 
intelligence,  or  something  which  man  has  never  had  any  con 
ception  of,  proves  me  to  be  out  of  the  pale  of  the  Royal 
Society.  .  .  . 

"  What  I  reprobate  is,  not  the  wariness  which  widens  and 
lengthens  inquiry,  but  the  assumption  which  prevents  or  nar 
rows  it;  the  imposture  theory,  which  frequently  infers  imposture 
from  the  assumed  impossibility  of  the  phenomena  asserted, 
and  then  alleges  imposture  against  the  examJ nation  of  the  evi 
dence.  .  .  . 

"It  is  now  [1863]  twelve  or  thirteen  years  since  the  matter 
began  to  be  everywhere  talked  about ;  during  which  time  there 
have  been  many  announcements  of  the  total  extinction  of  the 
spirit-mania.  But  in  several  cases,  as  in  Tom  Moore's  fable, 
the  extinguishers  have  caught  fire." 

The  late  Daniel  Davis,  of  Boston,  well  known  as  an  electrical 
instrument-maker,  was  so  thoroughly  persuaded  of  the  genuine 
ness  of  the  phenomena,  as  manifested  in  raps,  movements  of 
tables,  &c.,  that,  after  exhausting  all  his  practical  knowledge 


MR.  VARLEY'S  TESTIMONY.  23 

in  testing  them,  he  offered  a  reward  of  a  thousand  dollars  to  any 
one  who  would  produce  them  independently  of  any  medium. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  his  offer  was  never  accepted. 

Another  electrician,  Mr.  C.  F.  Varley,  at  the  trial  of  the  cele 
brated  case  of  Lyon  versus  Home,  in  London,  April,  1868,  made 
oath  as  follows  :  "  I  have  been  a  student  of  electricity,  chemistry, 
and  natural  philosophy,  for  twenty-six  years,  and  a  telegraphic 
engineer  by  profession,  for  twenty-one  years ;  and  I  am  the  con 
sulting  electrician  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company,  and  of 
the  Electric  and  International  Company. 

"About  nine  or  ten  years  ago,  having  had  my  attention 
directed  to  the  subject  of  Spiritualism,  by  its  spontaneous  and 
unexpected  development  in  my  own  family,  in  the  form  of 
clairvoyant  visions  and  communications,  I  determined  to  test 
the  truth  of  the  alleged  physical  phenomena,  to  the  best  of  my 
ability,  and  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  the  nature  of  the  force  which 
produced  them. 

"Accordingly,  about  eight  years  ago,  I  called  on  Mr.  Home, 
and  stated  that  I  had  not  yet  witnessed  any  of  the  physical 
phenomena,  but  that  I  was  a  scientific  man,  and  wished  to  in 
vestigate  them  carefully. 

"  He  immediately  gave  me  every  facility  for  the  purpose,  and 
desired  me  to  satisfy  myself  in  every  possible  way ;  and  I  have 
been  with  him  on  divers  occasions  when  the  phenomena  have 
occurred.  I  have  examined  and  tested  them  with  him  and  with 
others,  under  conditions  of  my  own  choice,  under  a  bright  light, 
and  have  made  the  most  jealous  and  searching  scrutiny.  I  have 
been  since  then,  for  seven  months,  in  America,  where  the  sub 
ject  attracts  great  attention  and  study,  and  where  it  is  cultivated 
by  some  of  the  ablest  men ;  and  having  experimented  with,  and 
compared  the  forces  with  electricity  and  magnetism,  and  after 
having  applied  mechanical  an-d  mental  tests,  I  entertained  no 
doubt  whatever  that  the  manifestations  which  I  have  myself 
examined  were  not  due  to  the  operation  of  any  of  the  recognized 
physical  laws  of  nature,  and  that  there  has  been  present  on  the 
occasions  above  mentioned  some  intelligence  other  than  that  of 
the  medium  and  observers." 


24  PLANCHETTE. 

Mr.  J.  H.  Simpson,  another  English  electrician,  the  inventor 
of  electrical  apparatus,  including  one  for  printing  at  a  distance 
by  the  telegraph,  writes  (1868)  to  ''Human  Nature,"  a  monthly 
magazine,  published  in  London,  as  follows  :  "  That  the  physical 
effects  are,  in  Mr.  Home's  case,  produced  without  aid  from  elec 
tricity,  ferro-magnetism,  or  apparatus  of  any  kind,  I  am  well 
satisfied.  They  are  bond  fide.  Of  that  no  one  who  witnesses 
them  can  have  a  doubt."  He  adds,  however,  "  I  believe  that 
nine-tenths  of  the  phenomena  produced  through  Mr.  Home  will 
some  day  be  shown  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  aid  lent  by  dis 
embodied  spirits." 

With  regard  to  the  one-tenth  remaining,  Mr.  Simpson' sug 
gests  no  theory  as  to  their  origin. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  accomplished  inquirers  into  these 
phenomena  was  William  Martin  Wilkinson,  of  44,  Lincoln's 
Inn  Plelds,  London,  Solicitor.  He  is  a  brother  of  the  dis 
tinguished  J.  Garth  Wilkinson.  In  his  affidavit  (1868)  in  the 
Home  case,  already  referred  to,  he  says,  — 

11  Such  phenomena  have  been  carefully  observed  by  several 
of  the  most  powerful  sovereigns  of  Europe,  and  by  persons  of 
eminence  in  the  leading  professions,  and  in  literature  and 
science,  and  by  practical  men  of  business,  under  conditions 
when  any  thing  like  fraud  or  contrivance  was  impossible. 
Various  theories  have  been  suggested,  by  way  of  explanation, 
connected  with  the  abstrusest  problems  in  biology  and  meta 
physics.  My  own  views  on  this  subject  are  probably  unim 
portant;  but  as  charges  and  insinuations  are  made  against  me, 
and  the  subject  of  Spiritualism  is  so  misunderstood  by  the  pub 
lic,  I  have  the  right  to  say,  that  having  had  my  attention  drawn 
to  certain  remarkable  occurrences,  about  eighteen  years  ago,  in 
the  house  of  a  relative,  and  which  continued  for  nearly  twelve 
years,  I  have  since  that  time  occupied  a  portion  of  my  leisure  in 
inquiring  into  the  subject,  and  in  arranging  the  various  phe 
nomena,  and  comparing  them  with  historical  statements  of 
similar  occurrences. 

"  I  have  very  seldom  been   at   any  seances,  and   that   not  for 


A    SUPERCILIOUS    PHILOSOPHER.  25 

many  years,  having  entirely  satisfied  myself  years  ago  of  the 
truth  of  most  of  the  phenomena,  —  that  is,  of  their  actual  happen 
ing;  and  I  have  at  the  same  time  and  for  many  years  formed 
and  constantly  expressed  the  opinion  that  it  was  wrong  to  be 
lieve  in,  or  act  upon,  what  might  appear  to  be  communications 
from  the  unseen,  on  their  own  evidence  merely.  I  have  in 
variably  inculcated  that  no  such  communication  should  be  re 
ceived  as  of  so  much  value  as  if  it  were  told  by  a  friend  in  this 
world,  inasmuch  as  you  know  something  of  your  friend  here, 
and  cannot  know  the  identity  or  origin  of  the  communicant. 

"  I  have  frequently  referred  to  the  passage  in  the  Old  Testa 
ment,  in  which  it  is  said  that  God  sent  a  lying  spirit,  and  to  the 
directions  given  us  in  the  New  Testament,  to  try  or  test  the 
spirits.  I  have  pursued  the  inquiry  under  great  misrepresenta 
tions  and  obloquy,  and  I  intend  to  continue  it  as  long  as  I  can ; 
and  I  believe  that  the  subjects  of  spiritual  visions,  trances, 
ecstasies,  prophecies,  angelic  protection,  and  diabolic  possession, 
anciently  recorded,  have  already  had  light  thrown  upon  them, 
and  will  have  much  more.  I  submit  that  I  have  a  right  to 
pursue  an  inquiry  into  psychological  laws,  without  being  sul£ 
jected  to  ridicule  or  abuse,  and  that  the  proof  of  supernatural 
occurrences  is  valuable  in  both  a  scientific  and  religious  point 
of  view.  The  mere  physical  phenomena  which  the  public 
erroneously  fancies  to  be  the  whole  of  Spiritualism,  and  which, 
of  course,  afford  room  for  spurious  imitation  and  fraud,  are  in 
my  belief  the  most  unimportant  part  of  the  subject,  and  have  not 
for  years  engaged  my  attention." 

Mr.  G.  H.  Lewes,  author  of  a  "  History  of  Philosophy,"  took 
part  in  the  Tyndall-Home  controversy,  in  a  long  letter,  (May, 
1868),  the  burden  of  which  was,  that  men  of  science  were  quite 
right  to  refuse  to  waste  their  valuable  time  in  investigating  the 
pretensions  of  mediums,  and  that  "  had  the  tone  of  Faraday's 
letter  been  ten  times  more  offensive,  it  would  have  been  no 
excuse  for  Mr.  Home's  declining  his  investigation." 

Upon  which  the  London  "  Spiritual  Magazine"  remarks,  "Let 
the  matter  as  to  examination  be  put  on  its  right  ground ;  namely, 


26  PI.ANCHETTE. 

that  scientific  and  literary  men  have  the  same  opportunities  of 
examination  of  the  question  as  any  one  else,  and  that  these 
opportunities  are  so  open,  easy,  and  common,  that  many  mil 
lions  of  people  have  already  examined  and  satisfied  themselves, 
many  of  them  men  of  the  highest  science,  learning,  and  ability. 
It  would  be  stepping  out  of  the  way  now  to  ask  any  scientific 
man  in.  We  protest  against  conceited,  and,  on  this  question, 
profoundly  ignorant  men,  treating  it  as  some  novelty  just  dis 
covered  in  a  corner,  because  they  wilfully  keep  themselves  unin 
formed  of  it.  Spiritualism  is  a  great  fact,  as  much  past  the 
mere  day  of  testing  and  proving  as  even  the  law  of  gravitation. 
When  as  many  men  and  women  have  accepted  it  as  would  peo 
ple  Scotland  several  times  over,  it  is  sui-ely  ridiculous  for  such 
as  Professor  Tyndall  and  Mr.  Lewes  to  ask  for  some  scientific 
nob  to  settle  the  point  for  them.  If  he  wishes,  let  the  nob  do  it 
on  his  o-wn  account,  or  stand  out  of  the  -way" 

We  have  said  enough  to  show  the  attitude  of  science,  past 
and  present,  with  some  honorable  exceptions,  towards  the  great 
facts  re-asserted  by  modern  Spiritualism. 

The  reality  of  the  alleged  facts,  supposed  to  be  spiritual,  must 
be  tried  by  the  same  tests  as  any  other  class  of  alleged  facts ; 
that  is,  by  testimony  and  experiment.  It  is  believed  that  they 
have  been  so  tried.  Whether  they  are  caused  by  spiritual  agency 
is  another  and  separate  question  ;  and  whether  scientific  men  are 
the  best  qualified  to  decide  this  point  may  well  admit  of  doubt. 
They  have  no  instruments  to  lay  hold  of  spirits;  no  chemical 
tests  by  which  to  detect  their  presence.  Retorts  and  galvanic 
batteries  are  here  of  no  avail.  A  simple  woman,  like  Joan  of 
Arc  or  the  Seeress  of  Prevorst,  may  be  the  true  experts  here. 

The  complaint  is  often  made  that  science  has  outrun  religious 
belief;  that  as  men  have  acquired  more  knowledge,  they  have 
become  more  and  more  unsettled  in  their  opinions  as  to  their 
inner  life,  and  in  the  existence  even  of  the  spiritual  world.  The 
facts  of  modern  Spiritualism  present  themselves  no  sooner  than 
they  are  needed  to  meet  the  want  which  this  tendency  has 
created. 


HUMILITY    OF    TRUE    SCIENCE.  2*J 

There  has  long  been  a  vague  notion  that  the  discoveries  of 
the  age  have  so  far  enlightened  men,  that  they  are  better  quali 
fied  to  form  accurate  opinions  in  regard  to  certain  occult  phe 
nomena  than  were  the  great  intellects  of  antiquity,  or  of  three 
centuries  since.  Many  persons  quietly  accept  it  as  something 
not  to  be  questioned,  that  such  men  as  Pythagoras,  Socrates, 
Plato,  Plutarch,  Origen,  Augustine,  Luther,  Baxter,  and  Mather, 
were  mere  children,  compared  with  the  college  professors  of  our 
own  day,  in  their  ability  to  judge  of  the  genuineness  of  these 
phenomena.  Because  science  has  invented  a  few  chemical  tricks, 
and  has  made  great  discoveries  in  electricity  and  magnetism, 
it  is  assumed  that  the  ancients  must  have  been  more  easily  im 
posed  on  than  we,  in  regard  to  psychological  marvels.  There 
is  no  evidence  whatever  that  such  was  the  fact. 

The  phenomena  on  which  the  ancients  based  their  belief  in 
gods  or  spirits,  and  the  Blackstones  and  Glanvils  their  belief  in 
witchcraft,  were,  with  unimportant  exceptions,  experiences  anal 
ogous  to  those  to  which  thousands  of  persons  are  now  bearing 
testimony.  Science  has  not  made  us  one  jot  better  able  to  dis 
pute  the  genuineness  of  these  phenomena  than  were  the  men  of 
former  ages. 

"We  refuse,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "to  believe  assertions 
without  evidence :  we  decline  to  reject  testimony  merely  be 
cause  it  vouches  what  is  new  or  strange.  It  is  not  in  the  least 
impossible,  it  is  not  even  improbable,  it  is  probable,  rea 
soning  from  the  past  it  is  even  certain,  that  real  phenomena 
should  reveal  themselves  totally  inexplicable  by  any  known  law, 
apparently  a  violation  of  physical  laws,  perhaps  new  prin 
ciples,  pregnant  with  marvels  to  which  the  fictions  of  the  past 
are  prosaic.  What  Paul  ever  thought  of  making  the  sun  paint? 
What  Joseph  or  Elisha  could  ever  converse  with  a  friend  three 
thousand  miles  across  the  ocean  ?  Talk  of  prophecy !  Why, 
Halley  predicted  the  very  day  and  minute  of  the  appearance  of 
a  comet  which  was  myriads  of  miles  away  at  the  time  he  died  I 
There  is  no  event  better  authenticated  in  history  than  Sweden- 
borg's  vision  of  the  great  fire  of  Stockholm.  The  perfectly 


28  PLANCHETTE. 

ascertained  facts  of  mesmerism,  clairvoyance,  and  electricity, 
prepare  us  to  wait  with  reverence  and  candor  upon  the  unfold 
ing  of  such  phenomena  as  are  attested  by  Bell,  Gully,  and  Col 
lier;  and  we  shall  never  be  ashamed  to  own,  that  as  truth  in  all 
ages  has  owed  very  much  more  to  credulity  than  to  conceited 
skepticism  and  self-sufficient  prejudice,  so  there  is  no  phenom 
enon,  however  marvellous,  that  we  should  a  priori  reject  as 
impossible,  in  the  face  of  cognate  facts,  and  accumulated,  in 
telligent,  and  unexceptionable  testimony." 

It  is  the  duty  of  Science  to  wait  upon  Nature,  to  reverently 
listen  to  what  she  chooses  to  tell,  and  in  the  way  it  pleases  her 
to  utter  it,  and  deal  with  the  facts  that  are  manifested  without 
ignoring  them  because  others  are  not  manifested.  We  must  be 
glad  to  learn  her  lessons  on  the  conditions  she  chooses  to  pre 
scribe,  thankful  to  accept  such  insight  into  her  arcana  as  she 
vouchsafes  to  grant. 

We  can  readily  understand  why  timid  sectarians  should  de 
nounce  the  investigation  of  these  phenomena  as  dangerous;  but 
how,  in  this  nineteenth  century,  a  committee  of  intelligent 
gentlemen,  renowned  for  their  attainments  in  their  respective 
departments  of  science,  and  whose  province  it  was  to  consider 
the  subject  from  a  purely  scientific  stand-point,  should  think  to 
frighten  grown  men  and  women  from  pursuing  an  inquiry  into 
certain  remarkable  facts  of  nature,  by  raising  the  cry  of  "im 
morality,"  and  talking  of  their  "  solemn  duty  to  warn  the  com 
munity,"  &c.,  would  indeed  be  astounding,  did  we  not  remember 
that  history  repeats  itself,  and  that  there  were  "professors" 
before  the  year  of  grace  1857;  even  among  those  wise  ones  who 
denounced  the  researches  and  revelations  of  Copernicus  and 
Galileo  as  immoral,  pernicious,  diabolical,  tending  "to  lessen 
the  truth  of  man  and  the  purity  of  woman." 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  PHENOMENA  OF   1847. 

"  There  is  in  nature  nothing  interpolated  or  without  connection,  as  in  a  bad 
tragedy."  —  A  ristotle. 

IN  the  little  village  of  Hydesville,  Wayne  County,  New  York, 
there  stood,  in  1847,  a  small  house,  which  had  been  occupied 
by  Mr.  Michael  Weekman.  He  had  been  troubled  by  certain  rap- 
pings,  of  which  he  could  give  no  explanation.  But  they  at 
tracted  little  attention,  and  may  have  had  no  connection  with 
subsequent  developments.  It  was  reserved  for  the  family  of  Mr. 
John  D.  Fox,  of  Rochester,  a  respectable  farmer,  to  have  their 
names  inseparably  associated  with  the  first  development  of  the 
modern  spiritual  movement,  based  on  the  phenomena  now  chal 
lenging  the  regards  of  all  thoughtful  persons. 

Mr.  Fox  moved  into  the  house  the  nth  of  December,  1847. 
His  family  consisted  of  himself,  his  wife,  and  six  children;  but 
only  the  two  youngest  were  staying  with  them  at  the  time  of  the 
manifestations,  —  Margaret,  twelve  years  old,  and  Kate,  nine 
years  old.  The  former  of  these  sisters  subsequently  became  the 
wife  of  the  celebrated  Captain  Kane,  the  Arctic  explorer. 

From  the  first,  the  family  were  disturbed  by  noises  in  the 
house ;  but  these  they  attributed  for  a  time  to  rats  and  mice. 
In  January,  1848,  however,  the  sounds  became  loud  and  start 
ling.  Knocks,  so  violent  as  to  produce  a  tremulous  motion  in 
the  furniture  and  floor,  were  heard.  Occasionally  there  would 
be  a  patter  of  footsteps.  The  bed-clothes  would  be  pulled  off; 
and  Kate  would  feel  a  cold  hand  passed  over  her  face. 


3O  PLANCHKTTE. 

Throughout  February,  and  to  the  middle  of  March,  the  dis 
turbances  increased.  Chairs  and  the  dining-table  were  moved 
from  their  places.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fox,  night  after  night,  with  a 
lighted  candle,  explored  the  house,  but  in  vain.  While  they 
stood  close  to  the  door,  raps  would  be  made  on  it;  and  on  their 
opening  it  no  one  would  be  found. 

On  the  night  of  March  31  st,  having  been  broken  of  their  rest 
for  several  nights  previous,  they  retired  to  bed  earlier  than  usual, 
hoping  to  sleep  without  disturbance.  The  sounds,  however,  were 
resumed.  They  occurred  near  the  bed  occupied  by  Kate  and 
Margaret.  Kate  attempted  to  imitate  the  sounds  by  the  snap 
ping  of  her  fingers.  There  was  the  same  number  of  raps  in  re 
sponse.  She  then  said,  "Now  do  as  I  do ;  count  one,  two,  three, 
four,  five,  six,"  at  the  same  time  striking  her  hands  together. 
The  same  number  of  raps  responded,  at  similar  intervals.  The 
mother  of  the  girls  then  said,  "Count  ten!  "  and  ten  distinct 
raps  were  heard.  "  Count  fifteen  !  "  and  that  number  of  sounds 
followed.  She  then  said,  "Tell  us  the  age  of  Katie"  (the 
youngest  daughter),  "  by  rapping  one  for  each  year;  "  and  the 
number  of  years  was  rapped  correctly.  "  How  many  children 
have  I?  "  There  were  seven  raps  in  reply.  "  Ah  !  "  she  thought, 
"  it  can  blunder  sometimes."  "  Try  again."  Still  the  number 
of  raps  was  seven.  Mrs.  F^ox'was  surprised.  "Are  they  all 
alive?"  she  asked.  No  answer.  "How  many  are  dead?"  There 
was  a  single  rap.  She  had  lost  one  child. 

"  Do  as  I  do,"  said  Kate  Fox.  Such  was  the  commencement. 
"  Who  can  tell,"  asks  Owen,  "  where  the  end  will  be?  " 

"  A  Yankee  girl,  but  nine  years  old,  following  up,  more  in 
sport  than  earnest,  a  chance  observation,  became  the  instigator 
of  a  movement,  which,  whatever  its  true  character,  has  had  its 
influence  throughout  the  civilized  world.  The  spark  had  been 
several  times  ignited,  —  once,  at  least,  two  centuries  ago;  but  it 
had  died  out  each  time  without  effect.  It  kindled  no  flame  till 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century." 

The  instances  here  referred  to  are  the  answers  by  knocks 
elicited  by  Mr.  Mompesson  in  1661,  and  by  Glanvil  and  the 
Wesley  family. 


GLANVIL    AND    WESLEY.  31 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Glanvil,  chaplain  in  ordinary  to  Charles  II., 
was  a  writer  of  great  erudition  and  ability.  In  his  "  Sadducis- 
mus  Triumphatus,"  written  to  show  that  the  phenomena  of 
witchcraft  were  genuine  occurrences,  he  gives  an  account  of  Mr. 
Mompesson's  haunted  house  atTedworth,  where  it  was  observed 
that,  on  beating  or  calling  for  any  tune,  it  would  be  exactly 
answered  by  drumming.  When  asked  by  some  one  to  give  three 
knocks,  if  it  were  a  certain  spirit,  it  gave  three  knocks,  and  no 
more.  Other  questions  were  put,  and  answered  by  knocks 
exactly.  Glanvil  himself  says,  that,  being  told  it  would  imitate 
noises,  he  scratched,  on  the  sheet  of  the  bed,  five,  then  seven, 
then  ten  times ;  and  it  returned  exactly  the  same  number  of 
scratches  each  time. 

Melancthon  relates  that  at  Oppenheim,  in  Germany,  in  1620, 
the  same  experiment  of  rapping,  and  having  the  raps  exactly 
answered  by  the  spirit  which  haunted  a  house,  was  successfully 
tried ;  and  he  tells  us  that  Luther  was  visited  by  a  spirit  who 
announced  his  coming  by  "  a  rapping  at  his  door." 

In  the  famous  Wesley  case,  the  haunting  of  the  house  of  John 
Wesley's  father,  the  Parsonage  at  Epworth,  Lincolnshire,  in 
1716,  for  a  period  of  two  months,  the  supposed  spirit  used 
to  imitate  Mr.  Wesley's  knock  at  the  gate.  It  responded  to  the 
Amen  at  prayers.  Emily,  one  of  the  daughters,  knocked  ;  and  it 
answered  her.  Mr.  Wesley  knocked  a  stick  on  the  joists  of  the 
kitchen;  and  it  knocked  again,  in  number  of  strokes  and  in  loud- 
ness  exactly  replying.  When  Mrs.  Wesley  stamped,  it  knocked 
in  reply. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  John  Wesley  was  a  Spiritualist. 
"With  my  latest  breath,"  he  writes,  "will  I  bear  my  testimony 
against  giving  up  to  infidels  one  great  proof  of  the  invisible 
world;  I  mean  that  of  witchcraft,  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of 
all  ages." 

A  writer  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Metropolitana "  (London, 
1861),  referring  to  these  and  similar  phenomena,  observes: 
"  It  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  remarkable  fact,  that  such  occurrences 
are  to  be  found  in  the  histories  of  all  ages,  and,  if  inquiries  are 


3^  PLANCHETTE. 

but  sincerely  made,  in  the  traditions  of  nearly  all  living  fami 
lies.  The  writer  can  testify  to  several  monitions  of  this  kind 
portending  death ;  and  the  authentic  records  of  such  things 
would  make  a  volume." 

In  the  "Life  of  Frederica  Hauflfe',  the  Seeress  of  Prevorst,  by 
Dr.  Justinus  Kerner,  chief  physician  at  Weinsberg  "  (who  died 
in  1859),  almost  every  phase  of  the  recent  spiritual  phenomena 
is  described  as  pertaining  to  her  experience.  To  these  more 
than  twenty  credible  witnesses  testify.  They  consisted  in  re 
peated  knockings,  noises  in  the  air,  a  tramping  up  and  down 
stairs  by  day  and  night,  the  moving  of  ponderable  articles,  &c. 

But  we  must  return  to  the  experiences  of  the  Fox  family. 
Startled  and  somewhat  alarmed  by  the  manifestations  of  intelli 
gence,  Mrs.  Fox  asked  if  it  was  a  human  being  that  was  making 
the  noise,  and,  if  it  was,  to  manifest  it  bv  making  the  same  noise. 
There  was  no  sound.  She  then  said,  "If  you  are  a  spirit,  make 
two  distinct  sounds."  Two  raps  were  accordingly  heard. 

The  members  of  the  family  by  this  time  had  all  left  their  beds, 
and  the  house  was  again  thoroughly  searched,  as  it  had  been 
before,  but  without  discovering  any  thing  that  could  explain  the 
mystery;  and,  after  a  few  more  questions  and  responses  by  raps, 
the  neighbors  were  called  in  to  assist  in  tracing  the  phenomenon 
to  its  cause.  But  the  neighbors  were  no  more  successful  than 
the  family  had  been,  and  confessed  themselves  thoroughly  con 
founded. 

For  several  subsequent  days,  the  village  was  in  a  turmoil  of 
excitement;  and  multitudes  visited  the  house,  heard  the  raps, 
and  interrogated  the  apparent  intelligence  which  controlled 
them,  but  without  obtaining  any  clew  to  the  discovery  of  the 
agent,  further  than  its  own  persistent  declaration  that  it  was  a 
spirit. 

About  three  weeks  after  these  occurrences,  David,  a  son  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fox,  went  alone  into  the  cellar,  where  the  raps 
were  then  being  heard,  and  said,  "  If  you  are  the  spirit  of  a 
human  being  who  once  lived  on  the  earth,  can  you  rap  to  the 
letters  that  will  spell  your  name?  and  if  so,  now  rap  three 


THE    ROCHESTER    KNOCKINGS.  33 

times."  Three  raps  were  promptly  given,  and  David  proceeded 
to  call  the  alphabet,  writing  down  the  letters  as  they  were  indi 
cated ;  and  the  result  was  the  name,  "Charles  B.  Rosma,"  a 
name  quite  unknown  to  the  family,  and  which  they  were  after 
ward  unable  to  trace.  The  statement  was  in  like  manner 
obtained  from  the  invisible  intelligence,  that  he  was  the  spirit  of 
a  peddler,  who  had  been  murdered  in  that  house  some  years  pre 
vious.  According  to  Mr.  David  Fox,  the  floor  was  subsequently 
dug  up,  to  the  depth  of  more  than  five  feet,  when  the  remains 
of  a  human  body  were  found. 

Soon  after  these  occurrences,  the  family  removed  to  Roches 
ter,  at  which  place  the  manifestations  still  accompanied  them ; 
and  here  it  was  discovered,  by  the  rapping  of  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet  in  the  manner  before  described,  that  different  spirits 
were  apparently  using  this  channel  of  communication ;  and 
that,  in  short,  almost  any  one,  in  coming  into  the  presence  of 
the  two  girls,  could  get  a  communication  from  what  purported 
to  be  the  spirits  of  his  departed  friends,  the  same  often  being 
accompanied  by  tests  which  satisfied  the  interrogator  as  to  the 
spirits'  identity. 

A  new  phenomenon  was  also  observed  in  the  frequent  moving 
of  tables  and  other  ponderable  bodies,  without  appreciable 
agency,  in  the  presence  of  these  two  girls.  These  manifesta 
tions,  growing  more  and  more  remarkable,  attracted  numerous 
visitors,  some  from  long  distances ;  and  the  phenomenon  began, 
as  it  were,  to  propagate  itself,  and  to  be  witnessed  in  other  fami 
lies  in  Rochester  and  vicinity;  while,  as  coincident  therewith, 
susceptible  persons  would  sometimes  fall  into  apparent  trances, 
and  become  clairvoyant,  and  re-affirm  these  raps  and  physical 
movements  to  be  the  production  of  spirits. 

In  November,  a  public  meeting  was  called ;  and  a  committee 
appointed  to  examine  into  the  phenomena.  They  reported  that 
they  were  unable  to  trace  the  phenomena  to  any  known  mun 
dane  agency.  Of  course,  the  large  majority  of  persons  pro 
nounced  the  whole  thing  an  imposture ;  and  the  public  press 
was  against  it.  almost  without  an  exception.  There  were  stories 


34  PLANCHETTE. 

that  the  Fox  girls  produced  the  sounds  by  their  knees  and  toe- 
joints  ;  and  one  of  their  relations,  a  Mrs.  Culver,  declared  that 
Kate  Fox  had  told  her  how  it  was  done.  If  the  young  and  mis 
chief-loving  Kate  had  ever  told  her  so,  it  must  have  been  in 
sport;  for  Mrs.  Culver's  explanation  was  soon  rejected  as  not 
covering  the  phenomena. 

The  girls  were  subjected  to  the  examination  of  a  committee  of 
ladies,  who  had  them  divested  of  their  clothes,  laid  on  pillows, 
and  watched ;  still  the  sounds  took  place  on  walls,  doors,  tables, 
ceilings,  and  at  quite  a  distance  from  the  mediums. 

We  have  before  us  a  letter,  received  by  us,  dated  Rochester, 
N.Y.,  Feb.  16,  1850.  It  is  from  the  pen  of  a  friend,  an  English 
gentleman  of  high  culture,  who,  at  our  request,  availed  himself 
of  a  brief  stay  in  Rochester  to  look  into  the  subject  of  the  mys 
terious  knockings.  He  made  two  calls  on  the  Misses  Fox,  to 
hear  the  rappings,  and  wrote  us  as  follows  in  regard  to  them  :  — 

"My  opinion  of  the  rappings  is  that  they  are  human,  very 
human,  sinfully  human,  made  to  get  money  by.  If  really  there 
is  a  ghost  in  the  matter,  then  quite  certainly  he  is  very  fickle, 
something  of  a  liar,  very  clumsy,  very  trifling,  and  altogether 
wanting  in  good  taste.  It  would  indeed  be  painful  to  me,  ex 
ceedingly,  if  I  thought  that  any  man  on  this  earth,  on  dying, 
had  ever  turned  into  such  a  paltry,  contemptible  ghost. 

"  Yet  at  a  distance  from  this  place,  as  I  understand,  there  are 
men  affecting  philosophy,  and  even  a  skeptical  philosophy,  who 
are  ready  to  believe,  and  who  do  believe,  that  these  Rochester 
knockings  are  a  spirit.  A  very  ridiculous  spirit!  An  untrue 
ghost,  a  very  pretending  ghost!  a  ghost  of  no  reverence  or  awe 
whatever!  Indeed,  a  ghost  that  is  no  ghost  at  all! 

"  Here,  now,  I  have  written  what  will  satisfy  your  curiosity 
about  this  absurd  business.  My  experience  in  it  will  be  useful 
to  me,  in  regard  to  superstition  as  a  disease  of  the  human  mind. 
I  have  learned  something  from  the  errand  I  have  been  on.  Bui 
to  me  the  knockings  themselves  are  not  nearly  so  wonderful  as  the 
echoes  they  make  in  the  city  of  New  York." 

The  o-entleman  who  wrote  this  letter  subsequently  made  a  very 


MULTIPLICATION    OF    MEDIUMS.  35 

careful  investigation  of  the  phenomena,  as  manifested  through 
the  mediumship  of  the  late  G.  A.  Redman,  and  became  fully 
convinced  of  their  genuineness.  He  accepted  the  spiritual  hy 
pothesis  as  to  their  origin,  and  is  now  (1868)  —  after  years  of 
examination  and  reflection,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe  — 
an  unwavering  believer,*  and  one  who  can  give  solid  reasons  for 
his  belief;  thus  justifying  that  remark  of  Novalis,  who  says, 
•'To  become  properly  acquainted  with  a  truth,  we  must  first 
have  disbelieved  it,  and  disputed  against  it." 

It  was  soon  found  that  the  marvellous  phenomena  could  be 
produced  through  numerous  persons  of  either  sex.  Mediums 
for  the  manifestations  began  to  spring  up  on  all  sides ;  and,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  spurious  phenomena  began  to  be  mixed  with 
the  genuine. 

The  raps  were  soon  superseded  by  more  astonishing  "and  in 
explicable  experiences.  Tables,  chairs,  and  other  furniture 
would  be  moved  about,  raised  from  the  floor,  and,  in  some  cases, 
so  powerfully,  that  six  full-grown  men  have  been  known  to  be 
carried  about  a  room  on  a  table,  the  feet  of  which  did  not 
touch  the  floor,  and  which  no  other  person  touched.  Hand 
bells  would  be  rung,  guitars  floated  about  the  room  and  played 
on,  tambourines  played  on,  and  moved  about  with  marvellous 
force;  and  at  last  spirit-hands  would  be  both  seen  and  felt. 
Although  these  phenomena  would  be  generally  produced  in  the 
dark,  there  were  enough  of  them  produced  in  the  light  to  satisfy 
inquirers  that  the  effects  were  not  imaginary  or  spurious. 

Mediums  were  developed  with  various  powers.  There  rapidly 
sprang  into  notice  musical,  writing,  speaking,  drawing,  and 
healing  mediums.  The  press  and  the  pulpit  sneered  and  ful 
minated  ;  but  the  work  went  on  with  amazing  celerity,  until 
millions  were  not  ashamed  to  admit  their  belief  in  the  phe 
nomena. 

At  the  rooms  of  J.  Koon.  Athens  County,  Ohio,  in  February, 

*  See  on  page  125,  of  this  volume,  an  account,  from  his  pen,  of  certain  phe 
nomena  for  which  Miss  Lord  was  the  medium,  which  he  witnessed  in  our  company  the 
latter  part  of  the  year  1860. 


36  PLANCHETTE. 

1854'^  musical  instruments  were  played  on  with  astonishing  force. 
Five  witnesses,  whose  names  are  published,*  testify  to  seeing 
spirit-hands  on  these  occasions.  They  say,  "  They  [the  spirits] 
beat  a  march  on  the  drum,  and  carried  the  tambourine  all  around 
over  our  heads,  playing  on  it  the  while.  They  then  dropped  it 
on  the  table,  took  the  triangle  from  the  wall,  and  carried  it  all 
around,  as  they  did  the  other  instruments,  for  some  time.  We 
could  only  hear  the  dull  sound  of  the  steel ;  then  would  peal 
forth  the  full  ring  of  the  instrument.  They  let  this  fall  on  the 
table  also.  After  this,  they  spoke  through  the  trumpet  to  all, 
stating  that  they  were  glad  to  see  them.  Then  they  went  to  a 
gentleman  who  was  playing  on  the  violin,  and  took  it  out  of  his 
hand  up  into  the  air,  all  around,  thrumming  the  strings,  and 
playing  as  well  as  mortals  can  do.  'They  played  on  the  trumpet, 
then  took  the  harp,  and  played  on  both  instruments ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  sang  with  four  voices,  sounding  like  female  voices, 
which  made  the  room  swell  with  melody. 

"After  this,  they  made  their  hands  visible  again,  took  paper, 
brought  it  out  on  the  other  table,  and  commenced  writing  slowly, 
when  one  of  the  visitors  asked  them  if  they  could  not  write 
faster  :  the  hand  then  moved  so  fast  we  could  hardly  see  it  go ; 
but  all  could  hear  the  pencil  move  over  the  paper  for  some  five 
minutes  or  so.  When  done,  the  spirit  took  up  the  trumpet  and 
spoke,  saying  the  communication  was  for  friend  Pierce ;  and,  at 
the  same  time,  the  hand  came  up  to  him,  and  gave  the  paper 
into  his  hand.  Now,  said  the  spirit,  if  friend  Pierce  would  put 
his  hand  on  the  table,  they  would  shake  hands  with  him  for  a 
testimony  to  the  world,  as  he  could  do  much  good  with  such  a 
fact  while  on  his  spiritual  mission.  He  then  put  his  hand  on 
the  table  by  their  request ;  the  hand  came  up  to  him,  took  his 
fingers,  and  shook  them.  Then  it  went  away,  but  soon  came 
back,  patted  his  hand  some  minutes,  then  left  again.  Now  it 
came  back  the  third  time ;  and,  taking  his  whole  hand  for  some 


*  D.  Hasteler,  Pittsburg ;  A.  P.  Pierce,  Philadelphia ;  H.  F.  Partridge,  Wheeling, 
Va.  ;  Lewis  Dugdale,  farmer,  Ohio ;  Charles  C.  Stillman,  Marion,  Ohio. 


THE  DAVENPORT  BROTHERS.  37 

five  minutes,  he  examined  it  all  over,  and  found  it  as  natural  as 
a  human  hand,  even  to  the  nails  on  the  fingers.  He  traced  the 
hand  up  as  far  as  the  wrist,  and  found  nothing  any  further  than 
that  point." 

Having,  on  some  forty  occasions,  witnessed  phenomena  analo 
gous  to  these,  and  quite  as  remarkable,  we  cannot  doubt  that 
this  account  is  scrupulously  true,  so  far  as  the  facts  are  con 
cerned. 

We  have  already  had  something  to  say  of  the  Davenport 
Brothers.  In  1846,  their  family  in  Buffalo  were  disturbed  by 
what  they  described  as  "  raps,  thumps,  loud  noises,  snaps, 
cracking  noises  in  the  dead  of  night."  In  1850,  having  read  in 
the  newspapers  of  the  Rochester  knockings,  they  sat  round  a 
table  with  their  hands  upon  it,  and  waited  further  developments. 
These  began  by  knockings  and  other  noises,  and  table-tippings. 
Soon,  the  alphabet  was  called  into  use;  then,  through  the  hand 
of  Ira,  the  elder  boy,  messages  were  written  by  an  invisible 
scribe;  and  Ira  was  "floated  in  the  air  over  the  heads  of  all  the 
people,  and  from  one  end  of  the  room  to  the  other,  at  a  height 
of  nine  feet  from  the  floor,  every  person  in  the  room  having  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  him  as  he  floated  in  the  air  above  them." 
To  add  to  the  wonder,  William  and  Elizabeth  (a  sister)  were 
also  upborne ;  and  other  marvels  took  place. 

On  the  fifth  evening  of  their  proceedings  (according  to  Dr. 
Nichols),  "  in  compliance  with  a  direction  rapped  out  on  the 
table  by  the  now  familiar  method  of  calling  over  trie  alphabet,  a 
pistol  was  procured,  and  capped,  but  not  loaded.  One  of  the 
boys  was  then  directed  to  go  to  a  vacant  corner  of  the  room  and 
fire  it.  At  the  instant  that  he  fired,  the  pistol  was  taken  from 
his  hand;  and,  by  its  flash,  it  was  plainly  seen,  by  every  person 
in  the  room,  held  by  a  human  figure,  looking  smilingly  at  the 
company.  The  light  and  the  form  vanished  together,  as  when 
we  see  a  landscape  in  a  flash  of  lightning;  and  the  pistol  fell 
upon  the  floor." 

Under  the  directions  of  supposed  spirits,  the  brothers  were 
tied  with  all  sorts  of  complicated  knots,  and  then  released  in  an 


38  PLANCHETTE. 

inexplicably  brief  space  of  time.  The  news  of  what  was  taking 
place  soon  spread;  and  many  eager  inquirers  came  to  the  house. 
Such  was  the  curiosity,  that  public  exhibitions  were  given.  The 
fact  that  the  phenomena  were  produced  for  the  most  part  in  the 
dark,  naturally  gave  rise  to  suspicion  and  dispute. 

In  the  year  1868,  at  the  Cleveland  Convention  of  Spiritualists, 
a  report  was  adopted,  reprobating  what  were  called  "  the  dark 
circle  impostors,  who  pretend  to  do  physical  impossibilities, 
claiming  that  spirits  do  them,  while  they  give  no  proof  of  what 
they  assert."  "After  a  diligent  and  careful  investigation  of  the 
subject,"  says  the  report,  "we  are  irresistibly  forced  to  the  con 
clusion  that  darkness  is  not  a  necessary  condition  for  physical 
manifestations;  but  that  it  is  a  condition  assumed  and  insisted 
upon  by  tricksters,  having  no  other  use  than  to  afford  oppor 
tunities  for  deception." 

These  remarks  are  likely  to  mislead.  They  appear  to  be  aimed 
principally  at  the  class  of  manifestations  for  which  the  Daven 
ports  are  celebrated.  That  the  most  remarkable  of  the  manifes 
tations  produced  in  the  dark  have  been  produced  in  the  light, 
will  not  be  disputed;  but  it  does  not  follow  from  this  that  dark 
ness  may  not  sometimes  be  more  favorable  to  their  production. 
Darkness,  it  is  true,  may  offer  more  opportunity  for  fraud;  but 
a  little  more  trouble  taken  will  soon  satisfy  the  patient  inves 
tigator.  We  do  not  doubt  that  genuine  mediums  are  often 
tempted  to  "help  on"  the  phenomena.  But  careful  observers 
do  not  find  it  difficult  to  separate  the  true  from  the  simulated. 
We  must  not  expect  to  find  all  mediums  persons  of  scrupulous 
integrity. 

The  Davenports  were  mere  boys  when  they  commenced  their 
exhibitions ;  and  it  would  not  be  surprising,  if  sometimes,  impa 
tient  of  the  capriciousness  or  slowness  of  "  the  spirits,"  they  tried 
to  make  them  "  hurry  up,"  by  some  boyish  acts  that  may  prop 
erly  be  denounced  as  tricks.  Indeed,  Dr.  John  F.  Gray,  of  New 
York,  well  known  to  American  Spiritualists  as  identified  from 
the  first  with  the  cause,  and  a  thoroughly  impartial,  independent 
investigator,  wrote  us,  under  date  of  New  York,  June  7,  1864,  as 
follows  :  — 


DR.    LOOMIS'S    TESTIMONY.  39 

"  I  have  not  seen  the  Davenports  this  time  here ;  but  I  enter 
tain  no  doubt  of  the  genuineness  of  the  manifestations  made  in 
their  presence.  When  they  were  here  some  years  ago,  they 
were  detected  in  making  spurious  manifestations  when  the 
genuine  failed." 

Surely  the  testimony  of  careful,  scientific  investigators,  like  Dr. 
Gray,  thoroughly  prepared  against  fraud,  and  anticipating  it,  is 
worth  something  in  a  case  like  this. 

Dr.  Loomis,  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  Medical  College, 
Georgetown,  has  given  a  minute  account  of  his  investigations 
into  the  phenomena  produced  through  the  Davenports.  His 
testimony  will  carry  the  more  weight  with  the  skeptic,  when  it  is 
known  that  he  does  not  admit  the  spiritual  hypothesis,  but  at 
tributes  the  thaumaturgic  occurrences  to  some  new,  unknown 
force.  From  Dr.  Loomis's  report,  we  extract  enough  to  indicate 
the  thoroughness  of  his  investigation,  and  the  character  of  his 
conclusions  :  — 

"At  one  end  of  Willard's  Hall  is  a  large  platform  about  fifteen 
feet  square,  and  three  feet  from  the  floor,  carpeted.  At  the  back 
side  of  this  platform,  resting  on  three  horses,  about  eighteen 
inches  high,  with  four  legs,  each  one  inch  in  diameter,  was  a 
box  or  cabinet,  in  which  the  phenomena  occurred. 

"  I  find  the  box  seems  to  be  made  for  two  purposes  only,  ist, 
to  exclude  the  light;  and  2d,  to  be  easily  taken  apart  and  packed 
in  a  small  space  for  transportation.  It  is  made  of  black  walnut 
boards,  from  one-fourth  to  one-half  of  an  inch  in  thickness. 
The  boards  are  mostly  united  by  hooks  and  hinges,  so  as  to  be 
taken  apart  and  folded  up.  The  box  is  about  seven  feet  high, 
six  feet  wide,  and  two  feet  deep ;  and  the  back  was  one  inch  in 
front  of  the  brick  wall  of  the  building.  It  has  three  doors,  each 
two  feet  wide  and  as  high  as  the  box;  so  that  when  the  doors  are 
open  the  entire  interior  of  the  box  is  exposed  to  the  audience. 

"Across  each  end  and  along  the  back  are  boards  about  ten 
inches  wide,  arranged  for  seats,  firmly  attached  to  the  box. 
These  are  one-half  inch  walnut  boards.  At  the  middle  and  near 
the  back  edge  of  each  of  these  seats  are  two  half-inch  holes, 


4-O  PLANCHETTE. 

through  which  ropes  may  be  passed  for  the  purpose  of  tying  the 
boys  firmly  to  their  seats.  The  entire  structure  is  so  light  and 
frail  as  to  utterly  preclude  the  idea  that  any  thing  whatever  could 
be  concealed  within  or  about  its  several  parts,  by  which  any  aid 
could  be  given  in  producing  the  phenomena  witnessed.  The 
top  and  bottom  of  the  box  are  of  the  same  thin  material,  and  not 
tongued  and  grooved ;  so  that  the  joints  were  all  open.  The 
floor  was  carpeted  with  a  loose  piece  of  carpet,  which  was  taken 
out.  The  entire  inside  of  the  box  was  literally  covered  with 
bruises  and  dents,  from  mere  scratches  to  those  of  an  eighth  of 
an  inch  deep.  I  examined  the  box  thoroughly  in  all  its  parts, 
and  am  satisfied  that  there  was  nothing  concealed  in  it;  nor  was 
there  any  way  by  which  any  thing  could  be  introduced  into  it  to 
aid  in  producing  the  phenomena.  The  phenomena  exhibited 
may  be  divided  into  several  classes. 

"a.  Before  the  performance  commenced,  the  audience  chose  a 
committee  of  three,  of  which  I  was  one.  The  other  two  were 
strangers  to  each  other  and  to  myself.  I  never  saw  them  before 
that  evening,  have  never  seen  them  since,  and  do  not  know  their 
names.  One  of  the  committee  —  a  stout,  muscular  man,  over 
six  feet  in  height,  professionally  a  sea-captain,  and  who  re 
marked  to  me  as  he  was  performing  the  operation,  that  he  had 
pinioned  many  prisoners  —  tied  one  of  the  boys  in  the  following 
manner:  viz.,  a  strong  hemp  rope  was  passed  three  times  round 
the  wrist,  and  tied.  It  was  then  passed  three  times  round  the 
other  wrist,  and  tied  again,  the  hands  being  behind  the  back. 
The  rope  was  then  passed  twice  around  the  body,  and  tied  in 
front  as  tightly  as  possible.  Before  this  was  completed,  the 
wrists  had  commenced  swelling,  so  that  the  flesh  between  the 
cords  was  even  with  their  outer  surface,  the  hands  putTed  with 
blood  and  quite  cool.  The  circulation  was  almost  completely 
stopped  in  the  wrists. 

"The  boy  complained  of  pain,  and  said,  'Tie  the  rope  as  you 
wish ;  but  I  cannot  stand  it.  I  am  in  your  power;  but  you  must 
loosen  the  rope.'  I  remarked  to  the  captain  that  it  was  cruel  to 
let  the  rope  remain  so  tight  as  it  was,  that  security  could  be 


DR.    LOOM  IS  S    TESTIMONY'.  4! 

gained  without  being  unnecessarily  cruel.  We  examined  his 
wrists  again ;  and  the  captain  decided  not  to  loosen  the  rope. 
The  whole  work  of  tying  the  boy  was  closely  watched  by  me 
during  the  entire  progress,  and  thoroughly  examined  when 
done ;  and  I  must  say  that  very  little  feeling  was  exhibited  for 
the  boy.  No  human  being  could  be  bound  so  tightly  without 
suffering  excruciating  pain.  His  hands  were  released  in  about 
fifteen  minutes.  I  then  examined  his  wrists  carefully.  Every 
fibre  of  the  rope  had  made  its  imprint  on  the  wrists.  I  examined 
them  a  second  time,  one  hour  and  thirty  minutes  after;  and  the 
marks  of  the  rope  were  plainly  visible.  He  was  pinioned  as 
tightly  around  the  body.  After  being  thus  tied  by  his  hands, 
he  was  seated  at  one  end  of  the  box;  and  a  second  rope  being 
passed  around  his  wrists,  was  drawn  both  ends  through  the 
holes  in  the  seat,  and  firmly  tied  underneath.  His  legs  were 
tied  in  a  similar  manner,  so  that  movement  of  his  body  was  al 
most  impossible.  All  the  knots  were  a  peculiar  kind  of  sailor 
knots,  and  entirely  beyond  reach  of  the  boy's  hands  or  mouth. 

"The  other  Davenport  boy  was  tied  in  a  similar  way  by  an 
other  member  of  the  committee.  After  being  tied,  I  carefully 
examined  every  knot,  and  particularly  noticed  the  method  in 
which  he  was  bound.  The  knots  were  all  beyond  the  reach  of 
his  hands  or  mouth.  He  was  as  securely  bound  as  the  other, 
the  only  difference  being  that  the  ropes  were  not  as  tight  around 
the  wrists.  This  one,  as  the  other,  was  tied  to  his  seat ;  the 
ropes  being  passed  through  the  holes,  and  tied  underneath  to 
the  ropes  attached  to  his  legs.  Thus  fastened,  one  at  one  end 
of  the  box  and  one  at  the  other,  they  were  beyond  each  other's 
reach. 

"  Thus  far  I  was  perfectly  satisfied  of  three  things,  ist,  There 
was  in  the  box  no  person  except  the  boys,  bound  as  above  de 
scribed;  2d,  It  was  physically  impossible  for  the  boys  to  liberate 
themselves ;  3d,  There  was  introduced  into  the  box  nothing 
whatever  besides  the  boys,  and  the  ropes  with  which  they  were 
bound. 

"These  being  the  conditions,  the  right-hand  door  was  closed; 


42  PI.ANCHETTE. 

then  the  left-hand  door;  and  finally  the  middle  door  was 
closed.  At  the  same  time  the  gas-lights  were  lowered,  so  that 
it  was  twilight  in  the  room.  Within  ten  seconds,  two  hands 
were  seen  by  the  committee  and  by  the  audience,  at  an  opening 
near  the  top  of  the  middle  door;  and,  one  minute  after,  the 
doors  opened  of  their  own  accord,  and  the  boy  bound  so  tightly 
walked  out  unbound,  the  ropes  lying  on  the  floor,  every  knot 
being  untied.  The  other  boy  had  not  been  released  ;  and  a  care 
ful  examination  showed  every  knot  and  every  rope  to  be  in  the 
precise  place  in  which  the  committee  left  it. 

"The  doors  being  closed  as  before,  with  nothing  in  the  box 
besides  one  of  the  boys,  bound  as  described,  hand  and  foot,  with 
all  the  knots  beyond  the  reach  of  his  hands  or  mouth,  in  less 
than  one  minute  they  opened  without  visible  cause ;  and  the 
boy  walked  out  unbound,  every  knot  being  untied. 

"  b.  The  box  being  again  carefully  examined,  and  found  to 
contain  nothing  but  the  seats,  the  boys  were  placed  in  them 
unbound,  one  seated  at  one  end  and  one  at  another.  Be 
tween  them  on  the  floor  was  thrown  a  large  bundle  of  ropes. 
The  doors  were  then  closed.  In  less  than  two  minutes,  they 
opened  as  before ;  and  the  boys  were  bound  hand  and  foot  in 
their  seats.  The  committee  examined  the  knots  and  the  ar 
rangements  of  the  ropes,  and  declared  them  more  securely 
bound  than  when  they  had  tied  them  themselves.  I  then  made 
a  careful  examination  of  the  manner  in  which  they  were  tied, 
and  found  as  follows  :  viz.,  a  rope  was  tightly  passed  around 
each  wrist  and  tied,  the  hands  being  behind  the  back;  the  ends 
were  then  drawn  through  the  holes  in  the  seat,  and  tied  under 
neath,  drawing  the  hands  firmly  down  on  the  seat.  A  second 
rope  was  passed  several  times  around  both  legs  and  firmly  tied, 
binding  the  legs  together.  A  third  rope  was  tied  to  the  legs  and 
then  fastened  to  the  middle  of  the  back  side  of  the  box.  A 
fourth  rope  was  also  attached  to  the  legs  and  drawn  backward, 
and  tied  to  the  ropes  underneath  the  seat,  which  bound  the 
hands.  This  last  rope  was  so  tightened  as  to  take  the  slack  out 
of  the  others.  Every  rope  was  tight;  and  no  movement  of  the 


DR.    LOOMIS'S    TESTIMONY.  43 

body  could  make  any  rope  slacken.  They  were  tied  precisely 
alike.  I  also  examined  the  precise  points  where  the  ropes 
passed  over  the  wrists,  measuring  from  the  processes  of  the 
radial,  ulnar,  and  metacarpal  bones.  I  also  carefully  ar 
ranged  the  ends  of  the  ropes  in  a  peculiar  manner.  This 
arrangement  was  out  of  reach  and  out  of  sight  of  the  boys, 
and  unknown  to  any  one  but  myself.  The  examination  being- 
ended,  the  following  facts  were  apparent:  ist,  There  was 
no  one  in  the  box  with  the  boys ;  2d,  There  was  no  thing 
in  the  box  with  the  boys  except  the  ropes ;  3d,  It  was  physi 
cally  impossible  for  the  boys  to  have  tied  themselves,  every  one 
of  the  knots  being  beyond  the  reach  of  their  hands  or  mouths, 
and  the  boys  being  four  feet  apart;  4th,  The  time  elapsing  from 
the  closing  of  the  doors  to  their  opening —  less  than  two  minutes 
by  the  watch  —  was  altogether  too  short  for  any  known  physical 
power  to  have  tied  the  ropes  as  they  were  tied. 

"c.  The  boys  being  tied  in  this  manner,  one  of  the  committee 
was  requested  to  shut  the  doors.  He  stepped  forward,  closed 
the  right-hand  door,  also  the  left-hand  door,  and  was  about 
closing  the  middle  door,  when  two  hands  came  out  of  the  box, 
one  of  which  hit  him  a  severe  blow  on  the  right  shoulder.  The 
committee-man  was  partly  in  the  box  and  felt  the  blow,  but  did 
not  know  what  struck  him.  He  immediately  threw  open  the 
doors ;  but  nothing  could  be  found  but  the  boys,  tied  as  before. 
I  carefully  re-examined  the  positions  of  the  ropes,  and  found 
them  as  I  had  left  them.  The  hands  were  seen  by  the  audience 
distinctly.  The  lights  had  not  been  turned  down ;  and  the  hands 
were  seen  in  the  plain  gas-light,  and  remained  in  sight  several 
seconds.  Having  satisfied  myself  of  the  reality  of  the  hands, 
having  seen  the  blow  given  by  one  of  them,  which  was  sufficient 
to  turn  the  committee-man  partly  round,  I  examined  them  with 
reference  to  their  position  in  relation  to  the  boys  anatomically 
considered.  The  middle  door  had  not  been  closed,  and  the 
committee-man  had  not  left  the  box;  both  boys  were  firmly  tied 
to  their  seats,  and  the  gas  was  fully  lighted.  The  hand  that 
appeared  to  the  left  of  the  committee-man  might  have  been,  so 


/| /|  PJ.ANCHETTE. 

far  as  position  and  anatomical  relation  were  concerned,  the  right 
hand  of  the  boy  at  the  left  side  of  the  box;  but  the  hand  that 
struck  the  man  could  not  have  belonged  to  either  boy.  It  was 
more  than  four  feet  from  either  one,  and  at  least  two  feet  high ; 
and,  had  either  boy  been  sufficiently  near,  it  must  have  been  a 
right  hand  on  a  left  arm. 

"  d.  The  box  was  then  carefully  examined  again;  and  noth 
ing  could  be  found  except  the  boys,  bound  as  described  before. 
There  were  then  placed  on  the  floor,  between  the  boys,  a  bell, 
a  violin,  a  guitar,  a  tambourine,  and  a  trumpet.  This  being 
done,  the  left  door  was  closed,  then  the  right  door;  and,  as  the 
committee-man  was  closing  the  middle  door,  the  brass  trumpet, 
weighing  about  two  pounds,  jumped  up  from  the  floor,  struck 
the  top  of  the  box  with  great  force,  and  fell  out  on  the  floor. 
This  took  place  while  the  committee-man  stood  facing  the  box. 
The  door  was  wide  open ;  and  the  committee-man  stood  partly 
in  the  box.  The  boys  were  again  carefully  examined,  and  found 
to  be  tied  as  at  first.  I  examined  the  ropes  that  I  had  carefully 
and  privately  arranged,  as  before  described,  and  found  them  as 
I  had  left  them. 

"  e.  The  trumpet  was  placed  back,  and  all  the  doors  closed. 
Within  ten  seconds  the  violin  was  tuned  and  began  to  play;  at 
the  same  time  the  guitar,  tambourine,  and  bell  began  to  play, 
all  joining  in  the  same  tune.  Part  of  the  time  the  bell  was 
thrust  out  of  the  window  in  the  upper  part  of  the  middle  door, 
by  an  arm,  and  played  in  sight  of  the  audience.  While  the 
music  was  being  made,  there  were  a  multitude  of  raps,  both  light 
and  heavy,  on  all  parts  of  the  box.  The  first  tune  was  played 
and  repeated ;  and  a  few  seconds  of  comparative  quiet  followed, 
broken  only  by  the  instruments  jumping  about  the  box,  and  a 
few  raps.  Soon  a  second  tune  was  begun,  in  which  all  the  in 
struments  joined  as  before.  In  the  midst  of  this  tune,  the  doors 
suddenly  opened  themselves  ;  and  the  instruments  tumbled  about, 
some  one  way,  some  another;  and  part  fell  out  on  the  floor.  The 
time  between  the  stopping  of  the  music  and  the  opening  of  the 
door  was  not  a  single  second.  I  went  at  once  to  the  box  and 


PROFESSOR    MAPES  S    EXPERIENCES.  45 

found  both  boys  bound,  hand  and  foot,  as  I  had  left  them.  I 
examined  the  ropes  particularly  about  the  wrists,  and  found 
them  in  the  precise  position  in  which  I  had  left  them,  measuring 
from  the  processes  of  the  radial,  ulnar,  and  metacarpal  bones. 
I  also  found  the  ends  of  the  ropes  under  the  seats,  which  I  had, 
as  previously  described,  privately  arranged  in  a. peculiar  man 
ner,  in  precisely  the  same  position  as  I  had  left  them." 

The  late  Professor  Mapes,  well  known  for  his  scientific  attain 
ments,  described  an  exhibition  witnessed  by  him  through  the 
Davenport  Boys.  These  boys  permitted  themselves  to  be  bound 
by  cords,  hand  and  foot,  in  any  way  the  operator  pleased ;  and 
in  an  instant  they  were  liberated  by  the  supposed  spirits.  The 
spirit  of  one  John  King  claimed  to  be  the  chief  actor  of  their 
band.  With  this  spirit  Professor  Mapes  said  he  conversed  for 
half  an  hour.  The  voice  was  loud  and  distinct,  spoken  through 
a  trumpet.  He  shook  hands  with  him,  the  spirit  giving  a  most 
powerful  grasp;  then  taking  his  hand  again,  it  was  increased  in 
size  and  covered  'with  hair.  The  professor  said  he  went,  accom 
panied  only  by  his  friends,  among  whom  were  Dr.  Warren  and 
Dr.  Wilson.  They  had  a  jocular  sort  of  evening,  into  which 
King  entered  heartily,  and  at  length  played  them  a  trick,  for 
which  they  were  not  prepared,  and  which  rather  astonished 
them.  Their  hats  and  caps  were  suddenly  whisked  from  their 
heads,  and  replaced  in  an  instant.  Turning  on  the  lights,  they 
found  each  hat  and  cap  was  turned  inside  out;  and  it  took  many 
minutes  to  replace  them.  Dr.  Warren's  gloves,  which  were  in 
his  hat,  were  also  turned  completely  inside  out.  This  exhibi 
tion  took  place  in  a  large  club-room  at  Buffalo,  selected  by  the 
professor  and  his  party,  having  but  one  place  of  entrance  and 
exit.  The  boys  sat  on  an  elevated  platform  at  a  large  table; 
and  this  table,  in  an  instant  of  time,  was  carried  over  the  heads 
of  the  auditors,  and  deposited  at  the  most  distant  part  of  this 
large  room. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  descriptions  of  the  phenomena. 
After  giving  exhibitions  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  latter  part  of  1864,  the  Davenport  Brothers  went 


46  PJ.AXCHETTE. 

to  England.  Here  their  reception  was  of  rather  a  mixed  char 
acter.  By  some  they  were  denounced  or  mobbed  ;  by  others  they 
were  treated  with  the  attention  which  was  due  to  the  extraor 
dinary  manifestations  produced  in  their  presence.  They  were 
accompanied  by  Mr.  William  Fay,  himself  the  medium  for  some 
inexplicable  specimens  of  modern  thaumaturgy. 

Captain  Richard  F.  Burton,  the  African  traveller,  in  a  letter, 
dated  Nov.  10,  1864,  gives  a  detailed  description  of  a  sitting  with 
the  brothers  at  his  own  lodgings.  He  says,  "Mr.  Fay's  coat 
was  removed  whilst  he  was  securely  fastened,  hand  and  foot; 
and  a  lucifer  match  was  struck  at  the  same  instant,  showing  us 
the  two  gentlemen  fast  bound,  and  the  coat  in  the  air  on  its  way 
to  the  other  side  of  the  room.  Under  pfecisely  similar  circum 
stances,  the  coat  of  another  gentleman  present  was  placed  upon 
him. 

"I  have  spent  a  great  part  of  my  life  in  Oriental  lands,  and 
have  seen  there  many  magicians.  Lately,  I  have  been  permitted 
to  see  and  be  present  at  the  performances  of  Messrs.  Anderson 
and  Tolmaque.  The  latter  showed,  as  they  profess,  clever  con 
juring;  but  they  do  not  even  attempt  what  the  Messrs.  Daven 
port  and  Fay  succeed  in  doing,  —  for  instance,  the  beautiful  man 
agement  of  the  musical  instruments.  Finally,  I  have  read  and 
listened  to  every  explanation  of  the  Davenport  'tricks'  hitherto 
placed  before  the  English  public;  and,  believe  me,  if  any  thing 
would  make  me  take  that  tremendous  jump  '  from  matter  to 
spirit,'  it  is  the  utter  and  complete  unreason  of  the  reasons  by 
which  the  manifestations  are  explained." 

In  France  the  Davenports  were  well  received  by  the  emperor; 
but  a  great  clamor  was  raised  against  them  by  the  press,  and  the 
unbelievers  generally.  Two  experts,  however,  in  the  art  of 
legerdemain,  in  Paris,  —  namely,  M.  Hamilton,  a  professor  of  the 
art,  and  M.  Rhys,  a  manufacturer  of  conjuring  implements,  — 
fully  exonerated,  in  published  letters,  the  brothers  from  all  sus 
picion  of  trick.  M.  Rhys  is  the  maker  of  all  the  articles  used  by 
the  well-known  Robert  Houdin,  who  is  himself  the  inventor  and 
originator  of  almost  the  whole  of  the  tricks  performed  by  the 


THE    DAVENPORTS    IN    FRANCE.  47 

less  accomplished  jugglers,  and  who  declared  some  time  since 
that  nothing  in  the  magic  art  could  account  for  the  so-called 
spiritual  phenomena  which  he  had  witnessed.  The  letters  al 
luded  to  were  published  in  the  "  Gazette  des  Etrangers  "  in  Paris, 
on  the  2yth  of  September,  1865,  and  are  as  follows  :  — 

"  MESSRS.  DAVENPORT,  — Yesterday  I  had  the  pleasure  of  being 
present  at  the  seance  you  gave;  and  I  came  away  from  it  con 
vinced  that  jealousy  alone  was  the  cause  of  the  outcry  raised 
against  you.  The  phenomena  produced  surpassed  my  expecta 
tions  ;  and  your  experiments  were  full  of  interest  for  me.  I  con 
sider  it  my  duty  to  add  that  those  phenomena  are  inexplicable, 
and  the  more  so  by  such  persons  as  have  thought  themselves 
able  to  guess  your  supposed  secret,  and  who  are,  in  fact,  far 
indeed  from  having  discovered  the  truth.  HAMILTON." 

"MESSRS.  DAVENPORT,  —  I  have  returned  from  one  of  your 
seances  quite  astonished.  Like  all  other  persons,  I  was  admitted 
to  examine  your  cabinet  and  instruments.  I  went  through  that 
examination  with  the  greatest  care,  but  failed  to  discover  any 
thing  that  could  justify  legitimate  suspicions.  From  that  mo 
ment,  I  felt  that  the  insinuations  cast  about  you  were  but  false 
and  malevolent.  I  must  also  declare  that,  your  cabinet  being 
completely  isolated,  all  participation  in  the  manifestation  of 
your  phenomena  by  strangers  is  absolutely  impossible ;  that  the 
knots  are  made  by  persons  selected  indiscriminately,  and  that 
the  public  has  been  admitted  to  watch  them ;  and  I  shall  add 
that,  under  these  conditions,  no  one  has  ever  yet  produced  any 
thing  similar  to  the  phenomena  I  witnessed.  RHYS." 

The  Davenports  met  with  great  success  in  Belgium,  where  the 
press  treated  them  with  unwonted  candor  and  fairness.  In  St. 
Petersburg,  they  gave  private  seances  before  the  emperor  and 
the  nobility,  and  were  received  with  much  attention. 

On  the  nth  of  April,  1868,  they  re-appeared  in  London,  and 
drew  a  crowded  audience.  Their  powers  had  not  diminished. 
A  gentleman  who  was  present  writes,  "  In  the  cabinet  exhibi- 


48  PLANCHETTE. 

tion,  hands,  life-like  in  form  and  texture,  were  frequently  seen 
before  the  doors  were  closed ;  and  from  the  aperture  two  long, 
naked,  femininely  formed  arms,  and  also  a  group  of  not  less  than 
five  hands  of  various  sizes,  were  protruded  at  the  same  instant." 

Mr.  Benjamin  Coleman,  of  London,  a  gentleman  personally 
known  to  us,  and  who  has  been  an  indefatigable  investigator  of 
the  phenomena  for  many  years,  writes,  under  date  of  May,  1868, 
of  the  Messrs.  Davenport  and  Mr.  William  Fay,  "  I  desire  to 
convey  to  those  of  my  friends  in  America,  who  introduced  them 
to  me,  the  assurance  of  my  conviction  that  the  Brothers'  mission 
to  Europe  has  been  of  great  service  to  Spiritualism.  ...  I  have 
had  no  reason  whatever  to  change  my  opinion  of  the  genuine 
and  marvellous  character  of  their  mediumship,  which  is  entirely 
free  from  the  imputation  of  trickery  and  bad  faith  of  any  kind." 

Mr.  Robert  Cooper,  of  London,  a  sincere  and  disinterested 
investigator,  and  who  accompanied  the  Davenports  to  Ireland, 
Scotland,  Belgium,  and  Germany,  solely  in  the  pursuit  of  truth, 
writes  as  follows:  "I  have  been  intimately  associated  with  the 
Davenports  for  seven  months.  I  have  witnessed  the  manifesta 
tions  under  a  variety  of  circumstances,  —  in  the  dark  and  in  the 
light,  in  public  and  in  private,  —  and  I  have  never  seen  any  in 
dication  whatever  of  the  slightest  approach  to  trickery.  On  the 
contrary,  I  have  seen  much  to  convince  me  of  the  absence  of 
any  thing  of  the  kind.  For  instance,  I  have  seen  lights  struck, 
contrary  to  regulations,  when  the  instruments  were  sounding 
and  floating  in  the  air;  but  no  one  was  discovered  out  of  his 
place,  the  only  result  being  the  falling  of  the  guitars  to  the 
ground. 

"At  Brussels,  at  a  seance  before  the  first  literary  society  of  the 
town,  blue  paint  was  placed  on  the  instruments  unknown  to 
any  of  us ;  but,  though  the  instruments  were  all  played  on,  no 
trace  of  the  paint  was  found  on  the  hands  of  the  brothers.  At 
Antwerp,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  cabinet  seance,  a  gentleman 
exhibited  his  hand  covered  with  some  black  composition  of  a 
greasy  nature.  He  said  he  had  caught  hold  of  the  hands  that 
appeared  at  the  cabinet  window,  and  fully  expected,  when  the 


THE    STRATFORD    PHENOMENA.  49 

Davenports  came  from  the  cabinet,  to  find  their  hands  blackened, 
but,  to  his  great  surprise,  such  was  not  the  case.  I  have  also 
known  black  composition  placed  on  the  hands  of  the  brothers 
during  the  dark  seance,  with  the  idea  that  the  instruments  would 
show  traces  of  the  pigment;  but  such  was  not  the  case.  None 
of  our  party  knew  of  these  experiments  being  made  till  the  ter 
mination  of  the  seances," 

Mr.  Cooper  has  heard  the  "  spirits  "  speak  in  an  audible  voice, 
and  has  held  long  conversations  with  them.  He  says,  "It  is 
obviously  impossible  for  any  one  to  be  with  the  Davenports,  as 
I  have  been,  and  not  discover  fraud,  if  any  existed.  I  could 
multiply  proofs  in  favor  of  the  genuineness  of  these  manifesta 
tions.  If  they  are  not  a  reality,  then  all  creation  is  a  myth,  and 
our  senses  are  nothing  worth." 

The  occurrences  in  the  family  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Phelps,  of  Strat 
ford,  Conn.,  which  took  place  not  long  after  the  manifestations 
through  the  Fox  family  (1848-9),  are  of  a  character  strictly 
analogous  to  those  that  were  established  as  true,  so  far  as 
human  testimony  can  establish  any  thing,  in  the  days  of  witch 
craft. 

For  seven  months,  the  phenomena  were  of  the  most  unac 
countable  character.  We  took  the  pains  to  write  to  Dr.  Phelps 
at  the  time,  and  have  from  him  a  letter  confirming  the  facts  in 
every  particular.  On  returning  one  day  from  church,  the  family 
found  the  doors  of  rooms,  which  had  been  carefully  locked,  all 
thrown  open ;  and  the  furniture  tossed  about  in  the  utmost  con 
fusion.  In  one  room  were  from  eight  to  ten  figures  formed  with 
articles  of  clothing,  and  arranged  with  singular  skill.  They 
were  all  kneeling,  and  each  with  an  open  Bible  before  it,  as  if  in 
mockery  of  their  own  church-going.  Nothing  was  missing.  The 
family  locked  the  door  of  this  room,  but  only  to  find,  on  open 
ing  it  again,  the  number  of  figures  increased,  and  that  with 
articles  of  dress  which  three  minutes  before  they  had  seen  in 
other  parts  of  the  house.  Heavy  tables  were  lifted  up  and  let 
down  again,  strange  noises  were  heard ;  and  a  boy  of  eleven 
years  of  age  was  lifted  up  and  carried  across  the  room.  His 

4 


50  PLANCHETTE. 

clothes  were  carried  away,  and  only  discovered  after  a  long  and 
patient  search.  He  was  sent  from  home  to  a  distant  school, 
but  had  to  be.  recalled,  as  his  clothes  there  were  cut  to  pieces 
repeatedly  in  a  most  extraordinary  manner.  The  panes  in  the 
windows  used  to  fly  to  pieces  as  Dr.  Phelps  and  others  stood 
looking  at  them. 

In  his  letter,  Dr.  Phelps  writes,  "I  have  seen  things  in  motion 
above  a  thousand  times ;  and,  in  most  cases,  where  no  visible 
power  existed  by  which  the  motion  could  be  produced.  There 
have  been  broken  from  my  windows  more  than  seventy-one 
panes  of  glass,  more  than  thirty  of  which  I  have  seen  broken 
before  my  own  eyes." 

About  the  year  1850,  the  Hon.  James  F.  Simmons,  of  Rhode 
Island,  a  well-known  member  of  the  United-States  Senate,  was 
the  witness  of  some  remarkable  phenomena.  In  the  autumn  of 
1852,  Mr.  Horace  Greeley,*  editor  of  the  "New-York  Tribune," 
received  a  letter  which  he  published  in  his  paper,  with  the  fol 
lowing  introduction:  "The  writer  has  received  the  following 
letter  from  Mrs.  Sarah  H.  Whitman,  in  reply  to  one  of  inquiry 
from  him  as  to  her  own  experience  in  'Spiritualism,'  and  espe 
cially  with  regard  to  a  remarkable  '  experience,'  currently  re 
ported  as  having  occurred  to  Hon.  James  F.  Simmons,  late 
United-States  Senator  from  Rhode  Island,  and  widely  known  as 
one  of  the  keenest  and  clearest  observers,  most  unlikely  to  be 


*  In  his  "Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life"  (1868),  Mr.  Greeley  admits  that  "the 
jugglery  hypothesis  utterly  fails  to  account  for  occurrences  which  I  have  personally 
witnessed,"  and  that  "certain  developments  strongly  indicate  that  they  do  proceed 
from  departed  spirits."  But  he  complains  that  nothing  of  any  value  is  obtained  by 
the  investigation ;  that  the  spirits  "  did  not  help  to  fish  up  the  Atlantic  cable  nor 
find  Sir  John  Franklin  ; "  that  Spiritualism  has  not  made  the  body  of  believers  "  bet 
ter  men  and  women."  Much  the  same  kind  of  objection  might  be  brought  against 
the  Copernican  theory  of  the  universe.  Mr.  Greeley  admits  that  the  phenomena  may 
enable  us  "to  answer  with  more  confidence  that  old  momentous  question,  If  a  man 
die,  shall  he  live  again?"  Did  it  never  occur  to  Mr.  G.  that  this  is  something;  a 
trifle,  perhaps,  compared  with  fishing  up  an  old  cable,  but  still  something?  We  fear 
that  Mr.  G.'s  life  has  been  too  "busy"  to  enable  him  to  give  to  these  matters  the 
reflection  they  require. 


SENATOR    SiMMONS  S    EXPERIENCES.  51 

the  dupe  of  mystery  or  the  slave  of  hallucination.  Mrs.  Whit 
man's  social  and  intellectual  eminence  are  not  so  widely  known  ; 
but  there  are  very  many  who  know  that  her  statement  needs  no 
confirmation  whatever."  Here  is  her  letter  :  — 

"DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  had  no  conversation  with  Mr.  Simmons 
on  the  subject  of  your  note  until  to-day.  I  took  an  early  oppor 
tunity  of  acquainting  him  with  its  contents;  and  this  morning 
he  called  on  me  to  say  that  he  was  perfectly  willing  to  impart  to 
you  the  particulars  of  his  experience  in  relation  to  the  myste 
rious  writing  performed  under  his  very  eyes,  in  broad  daylight, 
by  an  invisible  agent. 

''In  the  fall  of  1850,  several  messages  were  telegraphed  to 
Mrs.  Simmons  through  the  electric  sounds,  purporting  to  come 
from  her  step-son,  James  D.  Simmons,  who  died  some  weeks 
before  in  California.  The  messages  were  calculated  to  stimu 
late  curiosity,  and  lead  to  an  observation  of  the  phenomena. 
Mrs.  Simmons,  having  heard  that  messages  in  the  handwriting 
of  deceased  persons  were  sometimes  written  through  the  same 
medium,  asked  if  her  son  would  give  her  this  evidence.  She 
was  informed,  through  the  sounds,  that  the  attempt  should  be 
made,  and  was  directed  to  place  a  slip  of  paper  in  a  certain 
drawer  at  the  house  of  the  medium,  and  to  lay  beside  it  her  own 
pencil,  which  had  been  given  her  by  the  deceased.  Weeks 
passed ;  and,  although  frequent  inquiries  were  made,  no  writing 
was  found  on  the  paper. 

"  Mrs.  Simmons  happening  to  call  at  the  house  one  day,  ac 
companied  by  her  husband,  made  the  usual  inquiry  and  received 
the  usual  answer.  The  drawer  had  been  opened  not  two  hours 
before,  and  nothing  was  seen  in  it  but  the  pencil  lying  on  the 
blank  paper.  At  the  suggestion  of  Mrs.  Simmons,  however, 
another  investigation  was  made ;  and  on  the  paper  were  found  a 
few  pencil  lines,  resembling  the  handwriting  of  the  deceased, 
but  not  so  closely  as  to  satisfy  the  mother's  doubts.  Mrs.  Sim 
mons  handed  the  paper  to  her  husband  :  he  thought  there  was  a 
slight  resemblance,  but  would  probably  not  have  remarked  it 


52  PLANCHETTE. 

had  the  writing  been  casually  presented  to  him.  Had  the  signa 
ture  been  given  him,  he  should  at  once  have  decided  on  the 
resemblance.  He  proposed,  if  the  spirit  of  his  son  were  indeed 
present,  as  alphabetical  communications  received  through  the 
sounds  affirmed  him  to  be,  that  he  should,  then  and  there,  affix 
his  signature  to  the  suspicious  document. 

"In  order  to  facilitate  the  operation,  Mrs.  Simmons  placed 
the  closed  points  of  a  pair  of  scissors  in  the  hand  of  the  medium 
and  dropped  her  pencil  through  one  of  the  rings  or  bows,  the 
paper  being  placed  beneath.  The  hand  presently  began  to  trem 
ble  ;  and  it  was  with  difficulty  it  could  retain  its  hold  of  the  scis 
sors.  Mr.  Simmons  then  took  the  scissors  into  his  own  hand, 
and  dropped  the  pencil  through  the  ring.  It  could  not  readily 
be  sustained  in  this  position.  After  a  few  moments,  however,  it 
stood  as  if  firmly  poised  and  perfectly  still.  It  then  began  slowly 
to  move.  Mr.  Simmons  saw  the  letters  traced  beneath  his  eyes. 
The  words,  James  D.  Simmons,  were  distinctly  and  deliberately 
•written  ;  and  the  handwriting  ivas  a  fac-simile  of  his  son's  sig 
nature. 

"But  what  Mr.  Simmons  regards  as  the  most  astonishing  part 
of  this  seeming  miracle  is  yet  to  be  told.  Bending  down  to 
scrutinize  the  writing  more  closely,  he  observed,  just  as  the  last 
word  was  finished,  that  the  top  of  the  pencil  leaned  to  the  right. 
He  thought  it  was  about  to  slide  through  the  ring;  but,  to  his 
infinite  surprise,  he  saw  the  point  slide  slowly  back  along  the 
word  '  Simmons'  till  it  rested  over  the  letter  /',  when  it  imprinted 
a  dot.  This  was  a  punctilio  utterly  unthought  of  by  him.  He 
had  not  noticed  the  omission,  and  was  therefore  entirely  unpre 
pared  for  the  amendment.  He  suggested  the  experiment,  and 
he  thinks  it  had  kept  pace  only  with  his  will  or  desire.  But  how 
will  those  who  deny  the  agency  of  disembodied  spirits  in  these 
marvels,  ascribing  all  to  the  unassisted  powers  of  the  human 
will,  or  to  the  blind  action  of  electricity,  —  how  will  they  dispose 
of  this  last  significant  and  curious  fact? 

"The  only  peculiarity  observable  in  the  writing  was  that  the 
lines  seemed  sometimes  slightly  broken,  as  if  the  pencil  had 
been  lifted,  then  set  down  again. 


cui  BONO?  53 

"  One  other  circumstance  I  am  permitted  to  note,  which  is  not 
readily  to  be  accounted  for  on  any  other  than  spiritual  agency. 
Mr.  Simmons,  who  received  no  particulars  of  his  son's  death 
until  several  months  after  his  decease,  proposing  to  send  for  his 
remains,  questioned  the  spirit  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
body  had  been  disposed  of,  and  received  a  very  minute  and  cir 
cumstantial  account  of  the  means  which  had  been  resorted 
to  for  its  preservation,  it  being  at  the  time  uiiburied.  Improba 
ble  as  some  of  these  statements  seemed,  they  were,  after  an 
interval  of  four  months,  confirmed  as  literally  true  by  a  gentle 
man  then  recently  returned  from  California,  who  was  with 
young  Simmons  at  the  period  of  his  death.  Intending  soon 
to  return  to  California,  he  called  on  Mr.  Simmons  to  learn  his 
wishes  in  relation  to  the  final  disposition  of  his  son's  remains. 
The  above  particulars  I  took  down  in  writing,  by  the  permission 
of  Mr.  Simmons,  during  his  relation  of  the  facts." 

In  the  "British  Standard,"  of  Aug.  14,  1863,  Dr.  Campbell 
remarks  of  these  and  similar  phenomena,  "The  conclusion  of 
the  whole  matter  is  this  :  we  believe  in  the  existence  of  angels 
and  of  devils,  in  the  existence  of  the  spirits  of  men  both  good 
and  bad ;  we  believe  that  all  are  capable  of  acting  in  their 
disembodied  state  on  the  minds  of  men  still  in  the  flesh ;  we 
believe  in  the  possibility  of  intercourse  between  man  and  these 
disembodied  intelligences,  whether  good  or  bad;  we  believe,  on 
the  authority  of  Scripture,  that  spirits  are  capable  of  entering 
human  bodies,  of  speaking  through  them  and  acting  in  them ; 
and  hence  we  believe  in  the  possibility  of  spirits  operating  on 
matter  in  the  way  of  rapping  out  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  or 
in  the  way  of  writing  with  the  pencil.  We  see  nothing  in  Scrip 
ture  or  in  the  nature  of  the  case  that  militates  against  these 
conclusions.  All  that  we  require  is  proof,  indubitable,  sensible 
proof,  from  our  own  eyes  and  ears.  On  that  condition,  we  at 
once  give  full  credence." 

To  the  question  often  put  by  the  inconsiderate,  in  regard  to 
the  phenomena,  "What  good  have  they  all  done?  —  What's  the 


54  PLANCHETTK. 

use  of  them  all?"  Dr.  Campbell  replies,  "We  are  sometimes 
met  with  the  question  ctii  bono  ?  We  deny  our  obligation,  as  a 
condition  of  rational  faith,  to  prove  the  cut  bono.  It  may  exist 
where  we  see  it  not,  and  have  important  ends  to  accomplish 
with  which  we  are  unacquainted." 

Dr.  Campbell  relates  some  singular  occurrences  in  his  own 
experience,  and  concludes,  "  Explanation  of  such  phenomena 
we  have  none  to  offer ;  but  we  stand  by  the  facts  as  here  stated." 

It  is  astonishing  how  often  this  cut  bono  interrogatory  is  put 
by  persons  who  ought  to  see  how  a  little  reflection  would  silence 
them.  Once  when  Dr.  Franklin  was  asked  in  regard  to  some 
discovery,  "What's  the  use  of  it?"  he  retorted  by  saying, 
"What's  the  use  of  a  new-born  baby?"  And  as  for  that  matter, 
it  might  be  asked,  "  What's  the  use  of  any  thing?  " 

"I  do  not  see  that  people  have  been  made  better  men  and 
women  by  these  things,"  says  a  popular  editor,  in  reference  to 
the  spiritual  phenomena,  the  genuineness  of  which  he  admits. 
And  by  a  superficial  thinker,  the  remark  will  be  taken  as  sound 
common  sense,  and  as  settling  the  whole  question  of  their  im 
portance. 

But  you  will  observe  that  precisely  the  same  objection  might 
be  brought  against  the  discoveries  of  Copernicus,  of  Newton, 
and  even  of  Morse  and  Fulton.  Have  people  been  made  better 
men  and  women  by  the  theory  of  gravitation,  by  the  steamboat, 
the  railroad,  and  the  electric  telegraph?  Indeed  have  the  print 
ing-press  and  the  photographic  art  been  exclusively  servants  in 
the  cause  of  morality?  Such  questions,  if  not  always  put  in  the 
spirit  of  "  the  loud  laugh  that  speaks  the  vacant  mind,"  certaii.ly 
indicate  rather  a  narrow  view  of  the  great  facts  of  existence. 


CHAPTER  III. 

MANIFESTATIONS  THROUGH   MISS   KATE   FOX. 

"The  spiritual  world 
Lies  all  about  us,  and  its  avenues 
Are  open  to  the  unseen  feet  of  phantoms 
That  come  and  go,  and  we  perceive  them  not, 
Save  by  their  influence,  or  when  at  times 
A  most  mysterious  Providence  permits  them 
To  manifest  themselves  to  mortal  eyes."  —  Longfellow. 

WE  come  now  to  a  narrative  of  phenomena  so  remarkable 
that  they  will  probably  excite  many  an  exclamation  of 
incredulity,  although  the  authority  on  which  they  rest  is  above 
suspicion. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  quote  the  testimony  of  Dr. 
John  F.  Gray,  of  New  York.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  and 
most  persevering  investigators  of  the  Hydesville  phenomena. 
To  us  he  has  been  personally  known  for  more  thah  a  quarter  of 
a  century ;  and  he  is  well  known  to  a  large  circle  of  intelligent 
patients  in  the  great  city  where  he  has  had  a  lucrative  profes 
sional  practice  until,  a  few  years  ago,  he  retired  from  active 
occupation. 

Dr.  Gray  accepts  the  spiritual  hypothesis  as  the  only  one 
covering  all  the  phenomena  he  has  witnessed.  His  reasons  for 
believing  that  spirits  communicate  with  men  in  the  body  are 
thus  stated  in  a  succinct  summary  of  the  results  that  have  come 
to  his  knowledge  during  the  last  twenty  years  :  — 

"  I.  Phenomena  of  a  physical  nature  not  referable  to  the  laws 
of  physical  relation ;  such  as  the  moving  of  ponderable  bodies, 
independent  of  earthly  mechanics ;  the  production  of  a  great 
variety  of  sounds,  also  independent  of  any  known  or  conceiv- 


56  PI.ANCHETTE. 

able  mechanical  apparatus ;  the  production  of  lights  of  various 
colors,  sizes,  shapes,  degrees  of  brilliancy,  and  duration  of  in 
candescence,  in  every  case  without  the  presence  of  any  chemical 
agents  or  apparatus  known  to  or  usable  by  man ;  and,  lastly,  the 
reproduction  of  living  material  bodies,  through  which  extempo 
raneous,  but  real  and  tangible  physical  organizations,  the  spirits 
have  re-appeared  to  their  friends  on  earth,  expressing  their  pecu 
liarities  of  physical  form  and  movement,  and  likewise  their 
peculiar  and  distinctive  modes  of  apprehension,  feeling,  and 
intellection.  Through  these  temporarily  organized  effigies  of 
their  former  earth-bodies,  they  have  (as  I  know  from  several 
instances  of  recent  date)  spoken  to  and  sung  with  their  relatives 
here,  and  have  given  many  other  equally  palpable  proofs  of  their 
ability  to  reconstruct  and  inhabit  a  physical  form. 

"  II.  Phenomena  of  a  mental  nature  not  referable  to  earthly 
volition  and  intelligence ;  such  as  the  contrivance  and  produc 
tion  of  the  physical  phenomena  above  cited;  the  production  of 
writings  in  various  ancient  and  modern  languages,  wholly  un 
known  to  those  in  whose  presence  they  have  been  executed ;  the 
utterance  of  prophecy;  the  narration  of  events,  and  the  recital 
of  mental  facts  that  are  transpiring  in  distant  places,  often 
across  broad  oceans;  the  improvisation  and  incredibly  rapid 
production  of  symbolic  drawings  and  elaborate  pictures  by  per 
sons  not  versed  in  the  pictorial  art,  and  unable  to  explain  the 
symbols  they  have  executed  and  combined  in  such  a  way  as  to 
convey  a  good  lesson  of  life,  or  renew  a  long-buried  personal 
reminiscence;  lastly,  the  felicitous  and  accurate  impersonation 
of  persons  long  departed  this  life,  and  who  were  wholly  un 
known  to  and  unheard  of  by  the  personators. 

"The  philosophy  of  spirit-intercourse  sheds  a  mellow  light 
over  human  history  and  human  science.  It  founds  a  positive 
psychology,  and  teaches  where  to  look  for  wellsprings  of  inven 
tion  and  progress ;  and  it  reconciles  us  to  the  hard  ministry  of 
sin  and  sorrow,  of  ignorance  and  suffering." 

In  1860,  Mr.  C.  F.  Livermore,  an  opulent  and  well-known 
banker  of  New  York  (formerly  of  the  firm  of  Livermore  & 


MR.  LIVERMORE'S  NARRATIVE.  57 

Clewes,  but  now  retired  from  business),  lost  his  wife,  to  whom 
he  had  been  much  attached,  and  who  had  been  attended  during 
her  last  illness  by  Dr.  John  F.  Gray,  an  old  friend  of  the  hus 
band.  Mr.  Livermore,  an  inveterate  skeptic,  was  now  induced 
by  Dr.  G.  to  call  on  Miss  Kate  Fox,  the  young  woman  through 
whose  quick-wittedness  these  rapping  phenomena  were  origin 
ally  interrogated  and  developed  at  Hydesville. 

In  February,  1861,  Mr.  L.  accordingly  had  a  sitting  with  Miss 
Fox;  and  the  result  was  an  entire  change  in  his  views  concern 
ing  life  and  death. 

At  a  small  gathering  of  inquirers  at  which  our  friend,  Mr. 
Benjamin  Coleman,  of  London,  was  present,  in  1861,  Dr.  Gray 
read  the  following  extraordinary  account  by  Mr.  Livermore  of 
the  manifestations  which  Mr.  L.  obtained  through  Miss  Fox. 
After  describing  the  precautions  he  took  to  prevent  the  possibil 
ity  of  deception,  Mr.  L.  proceeds  as  follows  :  — 

"The  lights  being  extinguished,  footsteps  were  heard  as  of 
persons  walking  in  their  stocking-feet,  accompanied  by  the 
rustling  sound  of  a  silk  dress.  It  was  then  rapped  out  by  the 
alphabet,  '  My  dear,  I  am  here  in  form;  do  not  speak.'  A  glob 
ular  light  rose  up  from  the  floor  behind  me ;  and,  as  it  became 
brighter,  a  face,  surmounted  by  a  crown,  was  distinctly  seen  by 
the  medium  and  myself.  Next,  the  head  appeared,  as  if  covered 
with  a  white  veil :  this  was  withdrawn  after  the  figure  had  risen 
some  feet  higher;  and  I  recognized  tmmistakably  the  full  head 
and  face  of  my  wife,  surrounded  by  a  semi-circle  of  light  about 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter.  The  recognition  was  complete, 
derived  alike  from  the  features  and  her  natural  expression.  The 
globe  of  light  was  then  raised,  and  a  female  hand  held  before  it 
was  distinctly  visible.  Each  of  these  manifestations  was  re 
peated  several  times,  as  if  to  leave  no  doubt  in  our  minds.  Now 
the  figure,  coming  lower  down  and  turning  its  head,  displayed, 
falling  over  the  globe  of  light,  long  flowing  hair,  which,  even  in 
its  shade  of  color,  appeared  like  the  natural  tresses  of  my  wife, 
and  like  hers  was  unusually  luxuriant.  This  whole  mass  of  hair 
was  whisked  in  our  faces  many  times,  conveying  the  same  sensa- 


58  PLANCHKTTE. 

tions  as  if  it  had  been  actually  human  natural  hair.  This  also 
was  frequently  repeated,  and  the  hair  shown  to  us  in  a  variety  of 
ways.  The  light  and  the  rustling  sound  then  passed  round  the 
table  and  approached  me,  and  what  seemed  to  the  touch  a  skirt 
of  muslin  was  thi-own  over  my  head,  and  a  hand  was  felt  as  if 
holding  it  there.  A  whisper  was  now  heard ;  and  the  words, 
'  Sing,  sing,'  were  audibly  pronounced.  I  hummed  an  air,  and 
asked,  'Do  you  like  that?'  'Yes,  yes,'  was  plainly  spoken  in  a 
whisper;  and  in  both  cases  I  recognized  distinctly  the  voice  of 
my  wife,  to  which  I  had  become  sensitively  familiarized  during 
her  last  illness,  when  she  had  become  too  weak  to  talk  aloud." 

At  another  sitting,  a  few  days  after,  the  same  precautions  and 
conditions  being  observed,  the  following  phenomena  were  wit 
nessed  :  — 

"  The  table  was  lifted  from  the  floor,  the  door  violently  shaken, 
the  window-sash  raised  and  shut  several  times ;  and,  in  fact, 
every  thing  movable  in  the  room  seemed  in  motion. 

"  Questions  were  replied  to  by  loud  knocks  on  the  door,  on  the 
window,  ceiling,  table,  everywhere  ;  all  being  the  work  of  several 
powerful  spirits,  who  were  present,  and  whose  presence  was 
necessary,  as  it  was  afterwards  explained,  to  support  or  induce 
the  manifestations  of  a  more  beautiful  and  interesting  char 
acter. 

"An  illuminated  substance,  like  gauze,  rose  from  the  floor  be 
hind  us,  accompanied  by  a  rustling  sound,  like  that  of  a  silk  dress. 
The  previously  described  electrical  rattle  became  very  loud  and 
vigorous.  The  figure  of  a  female  passed  round  the  table,  and, 
approaching  us,  touched  me.  The  gauzy  substance  was  shaped 
as  though  covering  a  human  head,  and  seemed  as  if  drawn  down 
tight  at  the  neck.  Upon  close  examination,  as  it  approached 
near  me  a  second  time,  it  changed  its  form,  and  now  seemed  in 
folds  over  a  melon-shaped  oblong,  concave  on  one  side ;  and  in 
this  cavity  there  appeared  an  intensified  brilliant  light.  By  raps, 
I  was  requested  to  look  beyond  the  light.  I  looked  as  directed, 
and  saw  the  appearance  of  a  human  eye.  Again  receding  with 
the  rattle,  the  light  became  still  brighter;  and  then,  re-approach- 


MR.    LIVERMORE  S    NARRATIVE.  59 

ing,  the  gauze,  which  had  changed  in  form,  was  grasped  by  a 
naturally-formed  female  hand;  and  unfolding,  revealed  to  me, 
with  a  thrill  of  indescribable  happiness,  the  upper  half  of  the  face 
of  my  ivife,  the  eyes,  forehead,  and  expression  in  perfection. 
The  moment  the  emotion  of  recognition  h'ad  passed  into  my 
mind,  it  was  acknowledged  by  a  succession  of  quick  raps. 

"The  figure  disappeared  and  re-appeared  several  times,  the 
recognition  becoming  each  time  more  nearly  perfect,  with  an  ex 
pression  of  calm  and  beautiful  serenity.  I  asked  her  to  kiss  me 
if  she  could;  and,  to  my  great  astonishment  and  delight,  an  arm 
was  placed  around  my  neck,  and  a  real  palpable  kiss  was  im 
planted  on  my  lips,  through  something  like  fine  muslin.  A  head 
was  laid  upon  mine,  the  hair  falling  luxuriantly  down  my  face. 
The  kiss  was  frequently  repeated,  and  was  audible  in  every  part 
of  the  room.  The  light  then  moved  to  a  point  about  midway 
between  us  and  the  wall,  which  was  distant  about  ten  feet.  The 
rattling  increased  in  vigor;  and  the  light,  gradually  illuminating 
that  side  of  the  room,  brought  out  in  perfection  an  entire  female 
figure  facing  the  wall,  and  holding  the  light  in  her  outstretched 
hand,  shaking  it  at  intervals,  as  the  light  grew  dim.  My  name 
and  her  name  were  repeated  in  a  loud  whisper;  and  among 
other  things  which  occurred  during  this  remarkable  sitting, 
the  figure  at  the  close  stood  before  the  mirror,  and  was  reflected 
therein" 

The  incidents  of  another  evening  were  thus  described  :  "The 
lights  and  electrical  rattle  were  as  strong  as  on  the  previous  oc 
casions.  Hands  were  placed  upon  my  forehead,  a  head  placed 
upon  mine,  the  hair,  as  before,  falling  down  my  face  into  my 
hand.  I  grasped  it,  and  found  it  positively  and  unmistakably 
human  hair.  It  was  afterwards  whisked  playfully  at  me,  creat 
ing  as  much  wind  as  an  ordinary  fan.  The  spiritual  robe  was 
then  dropped  over  my  head  and  face,  as  real  and  material  in 
substance  as  cotton  or  muslin  of  a  very  fine  texture.  At  one 
time,  the  globe  of  light  extended  to  about  two  feet  in  diameter. 
At  last,  it  was  shaken  with  another  sharp  rattle ;  and,  shining 
brightly,  revealed  again  the  full  head  and  face  of  my  wife,  every 


60  PLANCHETTE. 

feature  in  perfection,  but  spiritualized  in  shadowy  beauty  such 
as  no  imagination  can  conceive,  or  pen  describe.  In  her  hair, 
just  above  the  left  temple,  was  a  single  white  rose,  the  hair  being 
arranged  with  great  care.  The  next  appearance,  after  a  brief 
interval,  revealed  the  same  face,  with  a  pink  rose  instead  of  a 
white  one.  The  whole  head  and  face  were  shown  to  us,  at  least 
twenty  times  during  the  sitting,  and  each  time  was  recognized 
by  me,  the  perfection  of  the  recognition  being  in  proportion  to 
the  brilliancy  of  the  light.  During  the  whole  of  these  manifes 
tations,  cards  of  a  large  size,  provided  by  myself,  were  placed  on 
the  floor,  with  a  pencil ;  and  long  messages  were  found  to  have 
been  written  upon  them,"  &c. 

Dr.  Gray,  in  conclusion,  said,  "These  manifestations  could 
not  have  been  produced  by  human  means;  and  if  you  admit  the 
competency  of  the  witness,  of  which,  from  my  knowledge  of  him, 
I  have  no  doubt,  they  are,  in  my  opinion,  conclusive  evidence  of 
spirit  identity." 

Several  persons  in  the  assembly  rose  to  ask  questions  of  Dr. 
Gray,  respecting  this  very  startling  narrative ;  and  one  gentle 
man  said,  he  really  could  not,  though  a  believer  in  Spiritualism, 
receive  such  statements  without  great  misgivings  of  delusion 
being  mixed  up  with  them.  "Now,"  he  said,  "I  put  it  to  you, 
Dr.  Gray,  Do  you  believe  that  such  things  can  and  did  occur?" 
Dr.  Gray  replied  very  calmly,  "Yes,  my  friend;  I  believe  as 
implicitly  every  word  of  those  narratives  as  I  do  in  my  own 
existence." 

Previous  to  leaving  New  York,  Mr.  Coleman  made  a  special 
visit  to  Miss  Kate  Fox,  the  medium  for  these  wonders ;  and  she 
fully  corroborated  all  that  Mr.  Livermore  had  told  him. 

Of  Miss  Kate  Fox,  Dr.  Gray  writes  :  "  She  has  been  intimately 
known  to  my  wife  and  me  from  the  time  she  was  a  very  young 
girl ;  that  is  to  say,  from  1850  to  this  date  [1861].  At  that  early 
day  in  the  history  of  the  manifestations,  she  was  frequently  a 
visitor  in  my  family;  and  then,  through  that  child  alone,  with 
out  the  possibility  of  trick  from  collusion  with  others,  or,  I  may 
truly  add,  of  imposture  of  any  kind,  all  the  various  phenomena 


DR.  GRAY'S   TESTIMONY.  61 

recorded  by  friend  L.,  except  the  reproduction  of  visible  human 
forms,  were  witnessed  by  Mrs.  Gray  and  myself,  and  many  other 
relatives  and  friends  of  our  family.  Among  these  I  may  men 
tion,  as  frequent,  attentive,  and  very  able  observers,  the  late  Dr. 
Gerald  Hull,*  my  brother-in-law;  and  Dr.  Warner,  my  son-in- 
law.  Miss  Fox  is  a  young  lady  of  good  education,  and  of  an 
entirely  blameless  life  and  character." 

Of  Mr.  Livermore,  Dr.  Gray  says,  "Besides  his  general  char 
acter  for  veracity  and  probity,  Mr.  L.  is  a  competent  witness  to 
the  important  facts  he  narrates,  because  he  is  not  in  any  degree 
subject  to  the  illusions  and  hallucinations  which  may  be  sup 
posed  to  attach  to  the  trance  or  ecstatic  condition.  I  have 
known  him  from  his  very  early  manhood,  and  am  his  medical 
adviser.  He  is  less  liable  to  be  misled  by  errors  of  his  organs 
of  sense  than  almost  any  man  of  my  large  circle  of  patients  and 
acquaintance." 

Mr.  Livermore  is  of  opinion  that  the  electrical  conditions, 
both  of  the  atmosphere  and  of  the  persons  receiving  manifes 
tations,  are  even  more  important  and  subtle  than  mental  con 
ditions.  He  says  of  himself,  "My  condition  has  always  been 
highly  electrical.  I  find  no  difficulty  in  lighting  gas  by  applying 
the  end  of  my  finger  to  the  burner,  after  having  excited  the  elec 
tricity  of  my  system,  by  friction  of  my  feet  on  the  carpet.  This, 
however,  is  not  an  uncommon  occurrence  here;  though  I  have 
repeatedly  tried  it  in  England  without  success." 

"You  ask  if  I  believe  all  the  manifestations  are  from  one 
spirit.  Most  certainly  not;  for  it  has  been  repeatedly  explained, 
and  I  think  proved,  that  the  spirit  made  itself  visible  to  me 
through  the  powerful  aid  of  other  spirits." 

Cards  were  written  on,  in  a  very  neat  small  hand,  exactly  like 
the  natural  handwriting  of  "  Estelle,"  the  wife,  when  in  the 
flesh.  Fac-similes  of  two  of  these  cards,  the  one  purporting  to 


*  Dr.  Hull,  who  was  universally  respected  and  beloved,  both  as  a  physician  and  a 
friend,  has  often  corroborated  to  us,  personally,  the  most  remarkable  of  the  facts  to 
which  Dr.  G.  bears  witness. 


62  PLANCHETTE. 

be  written  by  the  spirit  of  Mr.  L.'s  wife,  and  the  other  by  the 
"  spirit  of  Benjamin  Franklin,"  are  "published  in  the  "  London 
Spiritual  Magazine,"  of  November,  1861. 

A  spirit,  assuming  to  be  Franklin,  was  afterwards  repeatedly 
visible.  In  a  letter,  dated  Nov.  23,  1861,  Mr.  Livermore  writes  : 
"  I  now  aver,  that  no  doubt  of  the  identity*  of  the  spirit  longer 
remains  upon  my  mind.  His  appearance  [the  same  on  several 
occasions]  corresponds  with  the  original  portrait  of  the  philoso 
pher  ;  the  difference  being  simply  that  which  one  would  expect 
to  find  between  a  painting  and  a  face  replete  with  life  and  ex 
pression.  His  presence  was  a  wonderful  and  startling  reality, 
seated  in  the  chair  opposite  me  at  the  table,  vividly  visible,  and 
even  to  each  article  of  dress.  There  could  be  no  mistake." 

This  eidolon  of  Franklin,  as  well  as  that  of  Estelle,  was  after 
wards  seen  by  the  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Livermore,  and  by  Dr. 
Gray.  The  following  are  extracts,  taken  somewhat  at  random 
from  Mr.  Livermore's  spiritual  diary,  of  1861-1863  :  — 

"Aug.  18,  1861,  8  P.M.  —  Present,  the  medium  and  myself. 
Atmosphere  heavy  and  warm.  Carefully  examined  the  room, 
locked  the  door,  took  the  key,  and  made  all  secure.  Sat  in  quiet 
half  an  hour,  when  a  spherical  oblong  light,  enveloped  in  folds, 
rose  from  the  floor  to  our  foreheads,  and  rested  upon  the  table  in 
front.  By  raps,  '  Notice  how  noiselessly  we  come.'  Hereto 
fore  the  light  had  generally  appeared  after  a  succession  of 
startling  sounds  and  movements  of  movable  objects ;  but  in 
the  present  instance  all  was  quiet.  From  this  time,  8.30,  till 
11.30,  the  light  was  constantly  visible,  but  in  different  forms. 
It  remained  upon  the  table  a  full  half-hour,  the  size  and  shape 


*  If  spirits  have  the  power,  attributed  to  them  by  many  seers,  of  assuming  any  ap 
pearance  at  will,  it  is  obvious  that  some  high  spiritual  sense  must  be  developed  in  us 
before  we  can  reasonably  be  sure  of  the  identity  of  any  spirit,  even  though  it  come 
bearing  the  exact  resemblance  of  the  person  it  may  claim  to  be.  We  think,  therefore, 
that  the  fact  that  the  spirit,  described  by  Mr.  L.,  bore  the  aspect  of  Franklin,  and  called 
itself  Franklin,  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  dismissing  all  doubts  as  to  its  identity.  It 
may  be.  that  we  must  be  in  a  spiritual  state  before  we  can  really  be  wisely  confident  of 
the  identity  of  any  spirit. 


AN    EXTRAORDINARY    APPARITION.  63 

of  a  large  melon.  As  during  this  time  it  was  passive,  I  asked  if 
it  could  rise,  whereupon  it  immediately  brightened,  flashed  out, 
and  rising,  seemed  a  living,  breathing  substance.  By  raps, 
'This  is  our  most  important  meeting;  for  it  brings  to  our  circle 
two  powerful  spirits  great  and  good.'  The  light  became  gradu 
ally  more  powerful,  and  so  brilliant  upon  the  side  opposite  us  as 
to  illuminate  that  part  of  the  room.  It  now  rose  from  the  table, 
resting  upon  my  head  and  shoulder;  the  drapery  in  the  mean 
time  touching  and  falling  upon  our  faces,  with  a  peculiar  scent 
of  violets.  After  resting  upon,  and  pressing  my  head  and  shoul 
der  •with  the  weight  of  a  living  head,  it  descended  to  the  floor. 
I  was  now  satisfied  that  the  purpose  of  this  meeting  was  some 
other  than  the  appearance  of  the  spirit  of  my  wife.  The  light 
now  rose  with  increased  brilliancy,  showing  a  head  upon  which 
was  a  white  cap  surrounded  by  a  frill.  Seeing  no  face,  I  asked 
what  this  meant.  The  reply  was  by  raps,  '  As  ivhen  I  ivas  til.' 
This  was  correct;  for  it  was  to  all  appearances  the  peculiar  cap 
worn  by  my  wife  during  her  last  illness.  This  having  passed 
away,  the  light  appeared  again  very  brilliantly,  showing  a  crown 
composed  apparently  of  oak-leaves  and  flowers,  a  very,  very 
beautiful  manifestation.  I  had  brought  with  me  on  this  occa 
sion  some  new  cards  of  a  larger  size,  different  from  any  before 
used,  and  had  placed  upon  two  of  them  private  marks.  These  I 
put  upon  a  book  on  the  table.  In  a  few  minutes  they  were  taken 
from  the  book,  and  one  of  them  appeared  near  the  floor,  sus 
pended  three  or  four  inches  from  the  carpet,  — I  could  not  judge 
accurately ;  but  the  light  brightly  showed  the  centre  card  and 
radiated  from  each  side  to  a  distance  of  some  three  or  four 
inches ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  card  was  the  centre  of  a  circle 
of  spirit-light  of  a  foot  in  diameter;  while  an  imperfectly-shaped 
hand,  holding  my  small  silver  pencil,  was  placed  upon  the  card 
and  moved  quietly  across  from  left  to  right,  as  though  writing, 
and  when  finishing  a  line,  it  moved  quickly  back  to  recommence 
another.  We  were  not  permitted  to  look  at  this  very  long  at  a 
time,  as  our  steady  gaze  disturbed  the  operating  forces ;  but  it 
remained  more  or  less  visible  for  nearly  an  hour.  The  full 


64  PLANCHETTE.. 

formed  hand  was  seen  only  a  portion  of  the  time;  but,  during  all 
this  time,  a  dark  substance,  rather  smaller  than  the  natural 
hand,  held  the  pencil,  and  continued  to  write.  One  side  of  the 
card  being  finished,  tve  sa-w  it  reversed  and  the  other  page  com 
menced.  This  is  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  reality  of  spirit- 
writing,  if  any  evidence  can  be  satisfactory.  There  could  have 
been  no  possible  deception  here.  I  held  the  medium's  hand  : 
the  door  was  locked,  and  every  precaution  was  taken  by  me  as  in 
previous  instances.  The  identical  cards  were  returned  subse 
quently,  covered  with  the  finest  writing.  .  .  . 

"  Sept.  26,  1861. —  .  .  .  After  five  or  six  appearances  of  my 
wife,  the  light  rested  upon  the  floor  some  ten  feet  distant  from 
me ;  then,  rising,  it  suddenly  darted  across  the  room  backwards 
and  forwards,  until,  having  gained  sufficient  power,  it  flashed 
brightly  upon  the  wall,  and  brought  into  relief  the  entire  figure 
of  a  large,  heavy  man,  who  stood  before  us.  He  was  rather 
below  the  medium  height;  but  broad-shouldered,  heavy,  and 
dressed  in  black,  his  back  towards  us,  and  his  face  not  visible. 
He  appeared  thus  three  times  very  perfectly,  remaining  in  view 
each  time  for  about  a  minute.  The  moment  his  entire  form  was 
discerned  by  us,  rappings  commenced  simultaneously  in  all 
parts  of  the  room,  which  continued  during  the  time  he  was  in 
sight,  as  if  to  express  delight  at  the  achievement  of  a  new  suc 
cess.  On  asking  if  the  spirit  we  saw  was  that  of  Dr.  Franklin, 
we  were  answered  in  the  affirmative  by  three  heavy  dull  knocks 
upon  the  floor,  as  though  made  by  a  heavy  foot,  which  were 
several  times  repeated.  During  this  sitting,  the  spirit  of  my  wife 
approached,  tapping  me  upon  the  shoulder,  smoothing  my  hair, 
and  caressing  me ;  -while  her  long  tresses,  as  natural  as  in  life, 
dropped  over  my  face,  with  the  peculiar  scent  of  delicate,  freshly 
gathered  violets.  A  new  and  very  curious  manifestation  now 
took  place,  showing  us  how  the  echoes  were  produced  ;  and  there 
was  spelled  out,  ''Darling,  have  you  not  been  rewarded?'  The 
light  in  producing  these  echoes  or  explosions  assumed  a  lily 
shape,  nearly  the  size  of  my  head,  and  so  brilliant  as  to  light 
the  entire  surface  of  a  table  and  the  centre  of  the  room,  so  that 


MR.  LIVERMORE'S  NARRATIVE.  65 

Miss  Fox  and  I  could  see  each  other  distinctly,  as  well  as  various 
objects  in  the  room.  Then  bounding  up  and  down  from  the 
surface  of  the  table  some  twelve  or  eighteen  inches,  it  struck  the 
table,  and,  descending  on  my  arm,  produced  the  raps  or  echoes. 
"Friday  Evening,  Oct.  4,  1861. — A  bouquet  of  flowers 
was  placed  upon  the  mantel  in  a  vase  with  water.  As  soon  a* 
the  gas  was  turned  down,  a  movement  was  heard;  and  we  were 
requested  to  ;  get  a  light.'  Upon  doing  so.  we  found  the  flowers, 
with  the  vase  and  other  articles,  had  been  removed  from  the 
mantel  to  the  table,  which  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  room.  We 
again  extinguished  the.  light,  when  immediately  the  heavy  cur 
tains  of  the  window  were  drawn  aside,  and  raised  and  lowered 
repeatedly,  admitting  the  light  from  the  street.  Rustlings  were 
heard  after  an  interval  of  quiet,  with  sounds  as  of  persons  walk 
ing  in  stocking-feet.  A  peculiar  sound  was  produced  by  striking 
against  the  wall,  as  though  with  a  bag  of  keys  or  broken  earthen 
ware.  This  same  bag  of  keys,  or  whatever  it  might  have  been, 
also  seemed  to  be  dropped  from  a  height  of  several  feet,  and  to 
fall  heavily  upon  the  floor,  while  we  were  told  to  listen.  Tre 
mendous  concussions  were  then  made  upon  the  floor,  jarring  the 
whole  house.  The  spirits  of  my  wife  and  Dr.  Franklin  came  to 
me  in  form  at  the  same  time,  —  he  slapping  me  heavily  upon  the 
back,  while  she  gently  patted  me  upon  the  head  and  shoulder. 
The  electrical  rattle  was  now  heard ;  and  the  light  increasing  in 
brilliancy  disclosed  to  our  view  the  full  figure  of  a  heavy  man. 
At  my  request,  the  figure  '  walked  '  across  the  floor,  and  appeared 
many  times  in  different  positions  with  entire  distinctness.  My 
wife  now  appeared  in  great  vividness  and  beauty.  Her  figure 
floated  gracefully  through  the  room,  her  white  robes  falling 
back  as  she  glided  through  the  air,  brushing  arvay  pencils,  cards, 
<£c.,  as  she  passed  over  and  sive.pt  across  the  table.  This  spirit- 
robe  was  shown  us  in  a  variety  of  ways  ;  and  the  manifestation  of 
texture  was  exquisitely  beautiful.  We  saw  her  plainly  withdraw 
her  face  behind  it,  pushing  the  robe  forward  while  it  swung  in 
the  air.  It  was  brought  over  the  table,  the  light  being  placed 
behind,  so  that  it  became  transparent  and  gossamer  like,  as 

"5 


66  PLANCHETTK. 

though  a  breath  of  air  would  dissolve  it.  This  was  frequently 
repeated,  and  the  robe  drawn  across  my  head,  as  palpably  as 
though  of  material  substance.  Whenever  it  approached  closely, 
we  discovered  a  peculiar  scent  of  purity,  like  a  very  delicate  per 
fume  of  newly  gathered  grass  or  violets. 

"  Oct.  20,  1861.  —  This  manifestation  was  a  powerful  one, 
showing  the  whole  figure  of  my  wife,  but  not  her  face.  She 
stood  before  us  enveloped  in  gossamer,  her  arm  and  hand  as 
perfect  as  in  life,  the  arm  bare  from  the  shoulder,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  the  gossamer,  which  was  so  transparent  that  it  was  more 
beautiful  for  being  thus  dressed.  I  asked  to  be  touched ;  when 
she  advanced,  laid  her  arm  across  my  forehead,  and  permitted 
me  to  kiss  it.  I  found  it  as  large  and  as  real  in  weight  as  a  liv 
ing  arm.  At  first  it  felt  cold,  then  grew  gradually  warm.  She 
held  up  the  little  finger,  and  moved  it  characteristically;  and 
while  we  were  looking  at  that,  she  let  her  hair  fall  loosely  down 
her  back.  The  manifestation  was  concluded  by  her  writing  a 
card,  resting  it  upon  my  shoulder,  caressing  me  upon  the  head 
and  temple,  and  kissing  me  for  good-night. 

"Nov.  3,  1861. — This  evening,  according  to  promise,  my 
wife  came  in  full  form,  placing  her  arms  completely  around 
my  neck;  but  the  most  remarkable  and  novel  manifestation  was 
the  production  of  perfume  from  spirit-flowers.  Something,  re 
sembling  a  veil  in  its  contact,  was  thrown  over  my  head ;  and, 
while  it  was  resting  there,  spirit-flowers  were  placed  at  my  nose, 
exhaling  the  most  exquisite  perfume  I  have  ever  smelt.  I  asked 
what  this  was  ;  and  was  told  '  My  wreath  of  spirit-flowers.'  At 
my  request  the  same  was  brought  to  the  medium,  who  experi 
enced  similar  sensations.  This  was  repeated  probably  a  dozen 
times,  the  perfume  being  as  strong  as  that  of  tuberose,  but  en 
tirety  different  and  far  more  exquisite. 

"  Sunday  Evening,  Nov.  10,  1861.  — Immediately  upon  sitting 
down,  there  was  communicated  by  raps, '  No  failure.' .  .  .  My  wife 
tapped  upon  my  shoulder,  informing  me  that  she  should  give  all 
her  aid  to  Dr.  Franklin,  who  now  became  visible,  his  face  for  the 
first  time  being  seen.  The  light  was  apparently  held  by  another 


MR.    LIVERMORK'S    NARRATIVE.  67 

figure  enveloped  in  dark  covering,  from  behind  which  the  light 
approached,  shining  full  upon  the  face  of  Dr.  Franklin,  about 
whose  identity  there  can  be  no  longer  any  doubt  or  mistake.  I 
should  have  recognized  it  anywhere  as  Dr.  Franklin's  face,  as  I 
have  learned  to  know  it  from  the  original  paintings  I  have  seen  of 
him ;  but  the  strong  points  of  his  character  were  manifest  as  no 
painting  could  exhibit  them.  He  was  apparently  dressed  in  a 
white  cravat,  and  a  brown  coat  of  the  olden  style ;  his  head  was 
very  large,  with  gray  hair  behind  his  ears ;  his  face  was  radiant 
with  benignity,  intelligence,  and  spirituality :  while  my  wife's 
was  an  angel  face  of  shining  beauty,  spiritualized  in  its  ex 
pression  of  serenity  and  happiness.  His  appearance  was  that 
of  a  man  full  of  years,  of  dignity,  and  of  fatherly  kindness,  in 
whom  one  could  find  counsel,  affection,  and  wisdom.  He  came, 
perhaps,  a  dozen  times,  and  once  or  twice  so  near  that  his  eyes 
were  seen  full  and  clear.  My  wife  appeared  three  times  in  white 
robes  and  enveloped  in  flowers. 

^Monday  Evening,  Nov.  12,  1861.  —  Electric  rattlings  were 
heard;  and  the  light  becoming  very  vivid  discovered  to  us  Dr. 
Franklin  seated,  his  ^vhole  figure  and  dress  complete.  Indeed,  so 
vivid  was  the  light,  and  so  real  was  the  man  sitting  there,  that 
his  shadow  was  thrown  upon  the  wall  as  perfectly  as  though  a 
living  human  being  were  there,  in  his  earth-form.  His  position 
was  one  of  ease  and  dignity,  leaning  back  in  the  chair,  with  one 
arm  upon  the  table,  occasionally  bending  forward  in  recognition 
of  us,  his  gray  locks  swinging  in  correspondence  with  the  move 
ment.  We  closed  our  eyes  by  request.  Upon  opening  them,  he 
was  standing  on  the  chair,  his  form  towering  above  us  like  a 
statue.  Again  he  resumed  his  seat,  the  act  being  accompanied 
by  loud  rustlings,  which  attend  each  movement  of  the  spirit.  A 
message  from  my  wife  informed  me  that  a  card  would  be  visibly 
handed  to  Dr.  Franklin.  During  all  these  appearances,  there 
seemed  to  be  two  other  forms  or  spirits  assisting,  one  of  whom 
held  the  light.  One  of  these  enveloped  figures  approached  Dr. 
Franklin,  and,  extending  an  arm,  held  a  card  directly  before  his 
face,  so  that  the  card  was  distinctly  visible,  and  then  placed  it 


68  PLANCHETTE. 

on  his  knee,  and  afterwards  handed  it  to  me.  The  power  was 
great,  remaining  vigorous  during  the  evening;  and  Dr.  Franklin, 
my  silent  companion,  sat  in  his  chair,  my  vis-a-vis,  for  an  hour 
and  a  quarter. 

"  Wednesday  Evening,  Nov.  21,  1861.  —  ...  Something  like  a 
handkerchief  of  transparent  gossamer  was  brought ;  and  we  were 
told  to  look  at  the  hand  which  now  appeared  under  the  gossamer, 
as  perfect  a  female  hand  as  was  ever  created.  I  advanced  my 
own  hand,  when  the  spirit-hand  was  placed  in  it,  grasping  mine ; 
and  we  again  grasped  hands  with  all  the  fervor  of  long-parted 
friends,  my  wife  in  the  spirit-land  and  myself  here.  The  ex 
pression  of  love  and  tenderness  thus  given  cannot  be  described; 
for  it  was  a  reality  which  lasted  through  nearly  half  an  hour.  I 
examined  carefully  that  spirit-hand,  squeezed  it,  felt  the  knuckles, 
joints,  and  nails,  and  kissed  it.  while  it  was  constantly  visible 
to  my  sight.  I  took  each  finger  separately  in  my  hand,  and 
could  discern  no  difference  between  it  and  a  human  hand,  except 
in  temperature ;  the  spirit-hand  being  cold  at  first,  and  growing 
warm..  I  wore  a  glove,  however,  and  could  not  perhaps  judge 
accurately  in  all  respects.  At  last  '  good-night '  was  spelled  out, 
by  the  spirit-hand  tapping  upon  mine,  and  then  for  a  parting 
benediction,  giving  it  a  hearty  shake.  Nothing  in  all  these 
manifestations  has  been  more  real  to  me,  or  given  me  greater 
pleasure,  than  thus,  receiving  the  kindly  grasp  of  a  hand  dearer 
to  me  than  life,  but  which,  according  to  the  world's  theory,  has 
long  since  with  all  its  tenderness  and  life  mouldered  into  the 
dust  of  the  earth. 

'•'•Friday  Evening,  Nov.  29,  1861.  — My  brother  and  I  and  the 
medium  present.  Conditions  unfavorable.  Heavy  rain-storm. 
Darkened  the  room,  and  immediately  a  spirit-light  rose  from 
the  floor.  I  put  on  my  glove,  and  my  brother  did  the  same. 
The  light  soon  came  in  my  hand,  when  I  felt  that  it  contained  a 
female  hand.  It  was  frequently  placed  in  mine,  and  by  me 
grasped  tightly,  so  that  I  felt  every  part  of  it,  both  the  medium  • 
hands  being  at  the  time  held  by  me.  The  spirit  of  my  brother's 
deceased  child  also  placed  his  hand  in  mine;  and  a  large  man's 


MR.  LIVKRMORK'S  NARRATIVE.  69 

hand,  purporting  to  be  that  of  Dr.  Franklin,  was  placed  in  mine, 
seizing  and  shaking  it  so  violently,  that  it  shook  my  whole 
frame,  and  also  the  table.  My  brother,  also,  had  each  of  these 
hands  placed  in  his.  Thus,  three  distinct  and  different-sized 
hands  were  within  a  few  minutes  placed  in  each  of  ours,  and 
recognized  unmistakably  as,  first,  a  female  hand ;  second,  a 
child's;  third,  that  of  a  full-sized  man,  each  with  its  charac 
teristic  weakness  or  strength.  At  my  request,  the  folding-doors 
of  the  room  were  opened  and  shut  with  great  force  repeatedly. 

"Saturday  Evening,  Nov.  30,  1861. — At  home  in  my  own 
house  ;  carefully  locked  the  door.  Conditions  favorable  ;  weather 
clear  and  cold.  Soon  after  darkening  the  room,  heavy  knocks 
came  upon  the  table  with  the  electric  rattle,  but  without  any 
light.  By  raps,  the  encouraging  '  No  failure  to-night '  was 
communicated.  My  cane  and  hat  and  a  glass  of  water  were 
called  for.  A  vacant  chair  by  the  table  moved  and  got  into 
position  without  being  touched  by  us.  A  request  was  made  '  to 
close  eyes,'  when  a  sound,  like  drawing  a  match,  was  heard 
several  times  repeated  upon  the  table,  with  no  result.  Matches 
were  then  asked  for.  I  procured  a  number  of  wax  vestas ;  and 
holding  one  over  the  table,  it  was  instantly  taken  by  a  spirit- 
hand,  drawn  across  the  table,  and  ignited  at  the  third  attempt. 
We  opened  our  eyes  :  the  room  ivas  illuminated  by  the  burning 
match  ;  and  Dr.  Franklin  ivas  before  us,  kneeling,  the  top  of  his 
head  about  a  foot  above  the  table.  We  looked  at  him  as  long  as 
the  match  burned ;  and  he  became  invisible  as  it  expired.  .  .  . 
Soon  after  the  male  figure  first  appeared,  the  following  was 
communicated  by  raps  :  '  Now,  dear  son,  can  the  world  ever 
doubt?  This  is  what  we  have  so  long  labored  to  accomplish.  — 
B.  F.'  Also,  'My  dear,  now  I  am  satisfied.  —  ESTELLE.'  Upon 
cards  there  was  subsequently  written  by  the  spirit,  as  follows  : 
'This  meeting  is  the  most  important  we  have  ever  had.  Long 
have  we  tried  to  accomplish  this  manifestation,  and  success  has 
crowned  our  efforts.  You  saw  that  I  had  only  to  light  the  match 
to  show  you  that  I  was  as  naturally  in  form  as  you  are.  I  have 
long  tried  to  come  in  an  earthly  light,  and  have  at  last  suc 
ceeded.' 


7O  PLANCHETTE. 

"Dec.  15,  1861. — The  figure  of  Dr.  Franklin  appeared  per 
fectly  delineated,  seated  in  the  window,  and  permitted  me  to 
examine  his  hair  with  my  hand.  The  hair  was  to  sight  and 
touch  as  real  as  human  hair. 

"Saturday  Evening,  Dec.  28,  1861.  —  In  my  own  house  and 
room,  which  was  carefully  examined,  and  door  locked  by  myself. 
Soon  after  extinguishing  the  gaslight,  the  spirit-light  rose,  and 
requested  us,  by  raps,  to  follow  it  across  the  room  to  the  win 
dow,  which  was  heavily  curtained,  to  exclude  the  light  from 
the  street.  By  raps,  the  following  was  communicated  :  '  /  come  ; 
I  come  in  a  cloud.'  Immediately  the  light  became  very  vivid : 
the  '  cloud '  appeared  against  the  curtain,  a  portion  of  it  over 
hanging  from  the  top  ;  while  the  face  and  figure  of  my  wife,  from 
the  waist,  was  projected  upon  it  with  stereoscopic  effect.  White 
gossamer,  intertwined  with  violets  and  roses,  encircled  her 
head;  while  she  held  in  her  hand  a  natural  flower,  which  was 
placed  at  my  nose,  and  subsequently  found  upon  the  bureau, 
having  been  carried  by  the  spirit  from  a  basket  of  flowers  on  the 
table,  standing  in  the  centre  of  the  room.  We  were  told  to 
notice  her  dress,  which  seemed  tight-fitting,  of  a  substance 
like  delicate  white  flannel.  She  was  leaning  upon  her  right 
hand;  the  cuff  of  her  sleeve  was  plain  and  neatly  turned  back. 
In  answer  to  my  inquiry,  whether  this  appearance  was  not  like  a 
bas-relief,  I  was  answered,  '  No  ;  but  you  see  the  fine  spirit-form. 
Tou  notice  I  come  in  health,  and  not  as  one  year  ago  to-night.'' 
This  appearance  is  new,  and  quite  different  from  those  originally 
seen,  and  is  effected  without  noise  or  demonstrations  of  any 
kind. 

"Thursday  Evening,  Jan.  23. — My  wife  made  her  appear 
ance  standing  against  the  door.  She  was  exquisitely  robed 
in  white,  and  enveloped  in  blue  gossamer.  A  white  ribbon, 
tied  or  knotted  in  the  centre,  passed  across  her  waist;  and  a 
large  and  perfect  botv-knot  of  white  silk  ribbon  was  attached  to 
her  breast  diagonally.  In  her  hand,  near  her  face,  she  held 
a  small  oval  mirror,  about  two  inches  in  diameter.  We  had 
seen  the  mirror  before,  but  at  a  distance.  On  this  occasion  I 


MR.  LIVERMORE'S  NARRATIVE.  71 

determined  to  examine  it  closely,  and  approached  to  within  six 
or  eight  inches.  The  mirror  was  apparently  glass,  and  reflected 
objects  perfectly,  —  not  only  the  light  itself,  but  I  saw  my  own 
face  in  it.  The  spirit-finger  held  opposite  was  reflected  with  all 
its  motions.  We  asked  for  certain  movements  of  the  finger, 
which  were  made  as  requested,  and  simultaneously  reflected  in 
the  mysterious  glass.  The  flowers  in  her  hair  and  on  her  person 
were  real  in  appearance.  Over  her  forehead  was  a  crown  of 
flowers.  In  the  centre  was  a  button  or  flower  of  black  and  gold 
upon  a  background  of  white.  A  card  taken  from  me,  and  upon 
which  I  had  written  a  private  question,  was  held  by  the  spirit  in 
front  of  her  face,  and  behind  the  oval  mirror,  which  thus  hung 
suspended  and  swinging  against  the  white  card,  rendering  it  a 
real,  palpable  object.  The  light  shone  vividly  upon  her  face  and 
figure ;  and  while  we  stood  looking  intently,  she  instantly,  as 
quick  as  thought,  disappeared,  with  a  rushing  sound.  Then, 
by  raps,  was  communicated,  'The  electricity  is  very  strong; 
and  we  did  this  to  show  you  how  quickly  we  can  disappear.' 
Very  soon  she  returned,  as  real  as  before.  The  light  was  subse 
quently  placed  upon  the  floor,  near  the  door;  while  we  receded  to 
the  middle  of  the  room,  remaining  thus,  at  a  distance  of  some 
ten  feet  from  the  medium,  for  twenty  minutes.  We  were  then 
requested  to  open  the  window  to  admit  air,  to  enable  them  to 
dissipate  the  electricity.  Immediately  upon  the  fresh  air  being 
admitted,  the  light  grew  dim  and  disappeared. 

"  Jan.  24.  — A  stormy  night  with  hail  and  sleet,  ending  in  a 
severe  gale.  Conditions  favorable.  My  wife  appeared  dressed 
precisely  as  last  night,  except  having  white  gossamer  around 
the  top  of  her  head.  The  •  bow,'  which  was  in  the  same  place 
upon  her  breast,  was  the  same  as  then  ;  and  on  this  occasion  was 
taken 'in  our  fingers  for  examination,  being  to  sight  and  touch  as 
real  as  silk.  A  low,  murmuring  sound  was  heard,  something 
like  the  buzzing  of  a  bee.  I  listened  carefully,  and  noticed  that 
it  came  from  the  lips  of  the  spirit.  This  was  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  to  speak,  or  rather  the  preparatory  process,  eventually 
to  result,  doubtless,  in  success.  The  light  approached  her  face. 


72  PLANCHETTE. 

We  were  told  to  look  in  her  mouth.  Upon  doing  so,  we  dis 
covered  what  seemed  a  piece  of  dried  grass  projecting  from  her 
lips  about  three  inches.  This  was  then  placed  in  mj  hand  and  in 
my  mouth.  I  closed  my  teeth  upon  it,  finding  it  a  real  substance. 
By  raps,  I  was  told  it  was  a  spiritual  substance,  when  it  was 
withdrawn,  and  disappeared.  A  large  musical  box  was  standing 
upon  the  table,  which  required  considerable  force  to  start  it  or 
to  stop  it  by  means  of  springs.  At  my  request,  the  spirit-light 
rose,  resting  upon  the  keys,  and  started  the  music,  then  stopped 
it,  changing  or  repeating  the  tunes,  and  finally  wound  it  up. 

"  Jan.  30,  1862. — A  manifestation  of  great  power  and  'solid 
form.'  A  veiled  figure  robed  in  white  stood  by  us  ;  and,  opening 
the  drapery  which  enveloped  the  head,  we  distinctly  saw  the 
eyes,  forehead,  and  hair  of  Estelle,  life-like,  '  like  flesh  and  blood.'1 
The  lower  part  of  the  face  was  covered  with  the  gossamer.  This 
figure  walked  and  floated  through  the  room ;  kissed  me,  rested 
its  arm,  while  fully  visible,  upon  my  head  and  shoulders,  repeat 
ing  the  same  to  the  medium.  The  arm  was  round,  full,  and 
flesh-like.  I  examined  it  both  with  my  eyes  and  hands. 

';  Jan.  31,  1862.  —  Estelle  and  Dr.  Franklin  appeared  alter 
nately.  Dr.  Franklin's  shirt-bosom  and  collar  were  as  real  to 
appearance  as  though  made  of  linen.  We  handled  them,  and 
examined  in  the  same  manner  his  tunic,  which  was  black  and 
felt  like  cloth :  his  face  and  features  were  perfect  and  distinctly 
visible.  This  manifestation  differs  from  that  of  last  night,  this 
having  been  spoken  of  by  them  as  '  the  fine  spiritual  form,'  which 
seems  like  the  projection  of  form,  color,  and  expression,  with 
stereoscopic  effect.  We  now  see  that  the  rustling  is  produced  by 
movements  of  the  envelope  or  robe,  and  is  doubtless  electrical. 

"Sunday  Evening,  Feb.  9,  1862. — My  wife  appeared  leaning 
upon  the  bureau,  with  white  lace  hanging  in  front  of  and  around 
her  head.  This  lace  or  open  work  (like  embroidery)  was  so  real, 
that  the  figures  were  plainly  discernible,  and  could  have  been 
sketched.  As  she  stood  in  front  of  the  bureau,  the  top  of  the 
mirror  was  plainly  visible  over  her  head,  reflecting  her  form  and 
surroundings.  There  were  flowers  in  her  hair;  and  in  other 


SPIRIT-WRITINGS.  73 

respects  her  appearance  was  similar  to  those  previously  de 
scribed.  The  body  of  her  dress  or  robe  was  of  spotted  white 
gossamer,  while  the  lace-work  was  in  diamonds  and  flowers. 

"  Wednesday  Evening,  Feb.  12,  1862.  —  I  found  the  power 
strong;  and  soon  after  entering  the  room  messages  were  rapped 
out  upon  the  door  across  the  entire  width  of  the  room,  fifteen 
feet  distant  from  the  medium  and  myself.  About  fifteen  minutes 
after  extinguishing  the  light,  my  wife  came  to  us  in  exquisite 
beauty;  if  possible,  more  vividly  than  ever,  and  directly  over  the 
table.  In  her  bosom  was  a  white  rose,  green  leaves  and  other 
smaller  flowers.  A  card  which  she"  had  written  upon  was  visibly 
given  to  me,  handed  back,  and  returned  to  me  repeatedly  by  her, 
while  she  was  in  full  view.  Her  hand,  real  in  form  and  color, 
was  affectionately  extended  to  me,  and  caressed  me  with  a  touch 
so  full  of  tenderness  and  love  that  I  could  not  restrain  my  tears ; 
for  to  me  it  was  really  her  hand,  her  native  gentleness  was  ex 
pressed  through  it.  The  card  was  as  follows:  'Dear  C., — 
Beautiful  spring  is  approaching;  flowery  spring.  Over  you 
lightly  fall  its  shadows ;  and  may.  no  sorrow,  no  clouds,  touch 
the  brightness  of  your  future.  Have  you  not  noticed,  dear  C., 
that  all  your  life  you  have  been  prospered,  guided,  and  directed 
by  the  guardians  of  your  happiness?  You  have  always  been 
followed  by  an  invisible  protecting  power,  which  will  ever  be 
near  when  danger  threatens,  to  step  between  you  and  difficulty, 
to  lead  you  into  paths  of  happiness  and  peace.  We  are  now 
more  closely  linked,  from  our  constant  intercourse.  There  is 
not  a  day  closes  without  a  lasting  blessing  from  us.  As  life  is 
short,  live  well  and  live  purely.  .  .  .  Fear  not  the  world  :  there 
will  be  a  day  when  this  great  truth  will  be  seen  in  its  true  light 
and  prized  as  it  should  be.  ...  Be  happy :  all  is  well.  Good 
night. —  ESTELLE.' 

"  Saturday  Evening,  Feb.  15.  —  Atmosphere  unfavorable  and 

damp.  This  meeting  was  held  especially  for  Mr.  G ,  my 

brother-in-law.  There  were  present,  the  medium,  Mr.  G , 

and  myself.  I  asked  for  a  manifestation  of  power;  and  we  at 
once  received  the  following  message  :  ^  Listen,  and  hear  it  come 


74 


PLANCHETTE. 


through  the  air;  hands  off  the  table?  Immediately  a  terrific 
metallic  shock  was  produced,  as  though  a  heavy  chain  in  a  bag 
swung  by  a  strong  man  had  been  struck  with  his  whole  power 
upon  the  table,  jarring  the -whole  house.  This  was  repeated  three 
times,  with  decreasing  force.  A  heavy  marble-topped  table 
moved  across  the  room ;  and  a  large  box  did  the  same,  no  person 
touching  or  being  near  either  of  them.  An  umbrella  which  had 
been  lying  upon  the  table  floated  through  the  room,  touching- 
each  of  us  upon  the  head,  and  was  finally  placed  in  G 's 

hand.  These  physical  manifestations  were  given  doubtless  to 
convince  an  additional  witness  of  the  reality  of  spirit  or  invisi 
ble  power.  If  such  was  the  object,  the  purpose  was  well  served ; 
for  every  possible  precaution  had  been  taken  by  him,  even  to  the 
sealing  of  the  doors  and  ivindoivs. 

"Sunday  Evening,  Feb.  16,  1862. — Appearance  of  my  wife 
and  of  natural  flowers.  I  had  been  promised  a  new  manifesta 
tion,  '  something-  natural  as  life.''  We  sat  longer  than  usual  in 
quiet,  and  received  the  infallible  message,  '  No  failure.'  The 
spirit  announced  her  presence  by  gentle  taps  upon  my  shoulder, 
accompanied  by  rustlings,  kissed  me,  and  asked  for  a  card  and  a 
pin,  then  another  pin ;  all  of  which  I  handed  over  my  shoulder, 
together  with  a  small  strand  of  my  hair,  which  latter  was  par 
ticularly  requested.  The  taking  of  each  of  these  articles  was 
accompanied  by  rustlings ;  and,  as  the  spirit-hand  was  extended 
over  my  shoulder  visibly,  the  drapery  fell  upon  my  hand  and 
arm.  Some  ten  minutes  were  now  occupied  by  the  spirit  in 
arranging  the  card,  pins,  &c.,  when  the  following  message  was 
received:  '  Iivill  give  you  a  spirit-floiver.'1  Immediately  after 
wards  an  apparently  fr esh ly  gathered  Jlo^ver  was  placed  at  my 
nose,  and  that  of  the  medium.  My  wife  now  appeared  in  white, 
holding  the  card  in  one  hand,  and  the  spirit-light  in  the  other; 
while  we  discovered,  fastened  to  the  card,  a  leaf  and  flower.  I 
asked  if  I  could  have  the  flower,  and  was  answered  in  the  affirma 
tive.  My  hand  was  then  taken  by  the  spirit,  opened,  and  the 
card  placed  thereon;  while  I  was  particularly  and  repeatedly 
enjoined  to  '  be  very  careful?,  and  '  do  not  not  drop  or  disturb  it? 


SPIRIT-FLOWERS.  75 

With  the  other  hand  I  now  lighted  the  gas,  and  found,  to  my 
surprise  and  astonishment,  a  leaf  of  laurel,  about  two  and  a  half 
inches  in  length,  pinned  upon  the  card,  and  a  pale  pink  flower 
pinned  to  the  centre  of  the  leaf,  with  the  strand  of  hair  passed 
through  and  tied  in  the  leaf.  We  examined  it  carefully,  smelled 
it,  touched  it,  and  found  it  fragrant  and  fresh.  The  card  had  not 
been  during  all  this  time  within  reach  of  the  medium,  who  sat 
on  my  right,  while  the  spirit  stood  at  my  left,  and  the  doors  were 
as  usual  carefully  and  securely  locked.  After  a  careful  examina 
tion  of  five  or  ten  minutes,  we  were  requested  to  darken  the  room. 
Before  doing  so,  wishing  to  preserve  the  leaf  and  flower,  I  placed 
them  and  the  card  upon  a  book  in  a  remote  part  of  the  room,  and 
returning  to  the  medium,  turned  out  the  gas.  The  following 
message  was  then  communicated  :  '  I  gave  you  the  sacred  priv 
ilege  of  seeing  this  flower  from  our  spirit-home  :  it  has  van 
ished.'  I  immediately  relighted  the  gas,  and  directed  my  steps 
across  the  room,  when  I  found  the  card  and  the  pins  precisely 
as  I  had  left  them  ;  but  the  leaf  and  flower  were  gone.  By  raps, 
'Next  time  you  shall  see  the  flowers  dissolve  in  the  light.'  The 
following  was  also  written  upon  another  card  by  the  spirit  of 
Benjamin  Franklin  :  'My  son,  we  are  achieving  a  great  victory 
at  this  moment.  —  B.  F.'  * 

'•'•Saturday  Evening,  Feb.  22,  1862. — Appearance  of  flowers. 
Cloudy.  Atmosphere  damp.  Conditions  unfavorable.  At  the 
expiration  of  half  an  hour,  a  bright  light  rose  to  the  surface  of 
the  table,  of  the  usual  cylindrical  form,  covered  with  gossamer. 
Held  directly  over  this  was  a  sprig  of  roses,  about  six  inches  in 
length,  containing  two  half-blown  white  roses,  and  a  bud  with 
leaves.  The  flowers,  leaves,  and  stem  were  perfect.  They  were 
placed  at  my  nose,  and  smelled  as  though  freshly  gathered ;  but 
the  perfume  in  this  instance  was  weak  and  delicate.  We  took 
them  in  our  fingers,  and  I  carefully  examined  the  stem  and 
flowers.  The  request  was  made  as  before  to  'be  very  careful.' 


*  Fort  Donelson,  on  the  Tennessee  River,  was  taken  on  this  day  by  the  Federal 
forces,  February  i6th. 


76  PLANCHKTTE. 

I  noticed  an  adhesive,  viscous  feeling  which  was  explained  as 
being  the  result  of  a  damp,  impure  atmosphere.  These  flowers 
were  held  near  and  over  the  light,  which  seemed  to  feed  and  give 
them  substance  in  the  same  manner  as  the  hand.  1  have  no 
ticed  that  all  these  spiritual  creations  are  nourished  and  fed  or 
materialized  by  means  of  the  electrical  reservoir  or  cylinder,  and 
that  when  they  begin  to  diminish  or  pass  off,  incrassation  or 
increase  takes  place  the  moment  they  are  brought  in  contact 
with,  or  in  proximity  to,  the  electrical  light.  By  raps,  we  were 
told  to  '•Notice  and  see  them  dissolve'  The  sprig  was  placed 
over  the  light,  the  flowers  drooped,  and,  in  less  than  one  minute, 
melted  as  though  made  of  wax,  their  substance  seeming  to 
spread  as  they  disappeared.  By  raps,  '  See  them  come  again.' 
A  faint  line  immediately  shot  across  the  cylinder,  grew  into  a 
stem ;  and,  in  about  the  same  time  required  for  its  dissolution, 
the  stem,  bud,  and  roses  had  grown  into  created  perfection. 
This  was  several  times  repeated,  and  was  truly  wonderful.  We 
were  promised  the  phenomenon  of  their  probable  disappearance 
in  the  gaslight  when  the  atmosphere  became  pure  and  clear. 

'•'•Sunday  Evening,  Feb.  23,  1862.  —  Flowers.  Atmosphere 
very  damp.  Conditions  unfavorable.  The  flowers  were  repro 
duced  in  the  same  manner  as  last  evening.  I  felt  them  carefully; 
and  a  rose  was  placed  in  my  mouth,  so  that  I  took  its  leaves 
between  my  lips.  They  were  delicate  as  natural  rose-leaves, 
and  cold ;  and  there  was  a  peculiar  freshness  about  them,  but 
very  little  fragrance.  The  following  message  was  written  upon 

a  card:  'My  dear  C , — Again  we  have  to  contend  with  the 

atmosphere ;  but  how  much  we  have  been  able  to  do,  owing  to 
the  many  powerful  aids  who  have  been  so  kind  to  us  !  Do  you 
realize  the  great  blessings  we  are  giving  you?  Do  you  realize 
what  a  great  proof  you  have  received  in  being  permitted  to  see 
the  flowers  which  decorate  our  sacred  walks?  .  .  .  The  time  is 
coming,  has  come,  when  this  subject  will  be  honored.  Good 
night.  —  ESTELLE.' 

"  Tuesday  Evening,  Feb.  25,  1862. — Appearance  in  presence 
of  a  third  witness,  Mr.  G ,  the  medium,  and  myself.  The 


MR.  JJVERMORE'S  NARRATIVE.  77 

room  in  which  we  sat  was  connected  with  another  smaller  room 
by  sliding-doors ;  but  the  doors  and  windows  leading  into  these 
two  were  carefully  sealed.  After  sitting  about  half  an  hour, 
we  were  directed  to  open  these  sliding-doors ;  while  the  medium 
and  myself  proceeded  to  a  window  against  which  was  hung  a 
dark  curtain  to  exclude  the  light  as  usual.  Meanwhile  Mr. 

G remained  by  the  table.     Upon  reaching  the  window,  a 

vivid  light  rose  from  the  floor,  discovering  to  us  the  form  of  a 
male  spirit  standing  against  the  white  wall  adjoining  the  win 
dow.  At  first  his  face  was  not  visible,  or  rather  was  concealed 
by  the  unusual  quantity  of  dark  drapery  by  which  he  was  envel 
oped  ;  but  after  two  or  three  efforts  the  face  of  Dr.  Franklin  was 

recognized.     During  this  time  Mr.  G was  not  permitted  to 

leave  the  table.  At  last  the  conditions  having  become  stronger, 
or  rather  the  effect  of  his  presence  having  been  partially  over 
come,  the  following  message  was  received  :  '  Dear  friend,  ap 
proach.'  Mr.  G now  came  to  us,  when  the  spirit  of  Dr. 

Franklin  immediately  became  visible  to  him.  He  saw  the  hair 
was  real ;  for  while  we  stood  before  him  it  was  frequently  placed 
over  and  on  the  light  to  show  its  substantiality.  He  did  not, 
however,  see  the  spirit  in  the  same  degree  of  perfection  that  we 
do,  but  sufficiently  well  to  recognize  the  face  of  Dr.  Franklin  as 
represented  in  his  portraits.  The  eyes,  hair,  features,  and 
expression,  together  with  a  portion  of  the  drapery,  were  all 
visibly  perfect ;  but  the  power  of  the  electrical  light  was  consider 
ably  weakened  from  the  effects  of  Mr.  G 's  presence.  These 

effects  were  very  curious.      With  Mr.  G in  the  other  room, 

the  light  was  bright  and  vivid,  decreasing  as  he  approached  in 
proportion  to  the  distance ;  again  brightening  as  he  receded,  and 
vice-versa,  showing  that  the  sphere  of  a  person  in  the  earth-form 
has  a  direct  influence  upon  these  creations  of  the  invisible 
world;  and  that  this  influence  may  be  a  disturbing  one,  from  no 
other  cause  except  surprise,  fear,  or  any  violent  emotion  result 
ing  from  inexperience  in  the  phenomena." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Coleman,  dated  June  loth,  1862,  Mr.  Liver- 
more  writes,   "I  have  the  pleasure   of  announcing  to  you   the 


78  PLANCIIliTTJ-:. 

initiation  of  Dr.  Gray  as  a  witness  of  the  visible  presence  of  Dr. 
Franklin  on  Friday  night  last.  He  saw  the  spirit  less  distinctly 
than  has  generally  been  my  experience,  but  sufficiently  well  to 
recognize  him.  This  being,  however,  the  first  time  of  seeing 
him,  he  may  expect  to  attain  by  progressive  steps  the  same  vivid 
ness  that  has  been  manifested  to  us,  after  the  first  emotions  of 
surprise  have  been  overcome  by  familiarity  with  the  phenom 
enon.  The  doctor  actually  saw  and  took  the  gray  hair  of 
Franklin's  spirit,  as  well  as  a  portion  of  the  clothing  in  his  hand, 
and  examined  them.  To  me  this  is  now  a  very  common  occur 
rence  ;  but  the  additional  corroborative  testimony  of  Dr.  Gray  is 
very  important." 

Dr.  Gray,  on  his  part,  fully  confirms  all  this.  He  writes  (Jan 
uary,  1867),  "  I  can  only  reply  to  your  latest  request,  that  I  would 
write  out  my  testimony  in  this  case  for  publication,  that  Mr. 
Livermore's  statements  are  each,  one  and  all  of  them,  fully  reli 
able.  His  recitals  of  the  seances  in  which  I  participated  are 
faithfully  and  most  accurately  stated,  leaving  not  a  shade  of 
doubt  in  my  mind  as  to  the  truth  and  accuracy  of  his  accounts 
of  those  at  which  I  was  not  a  witness.  I  saw  with  him  the 
philosopher  Franklin,  in  a  living,  tangible,  physical  form, 
several  times  and  on  as  many  different  occasions.  I  also  wit 
nessed  the  production  of  lights,  odors,  and  sounds;  and  also  the 
formation  of  flowers,  cloth-textures,  &c.,  and  their  disintegration 
and  dispersion. 

"These  phenomena,  including  the  apparition  of  Dr.  Frank 
lin  and  also  many  other  phenomena  of  like  significance,  have 
all  been  shown  to  me  when  Mr.  Livermore  was  not  present  and 
not  in  the  country  even. 

"Mr.  L.  is  a  good  observer  of  spirit  phenomena;  brave,  clear 
and  quick  sighted,  void  of  what  is  called  superstition,  in  good 
health  of  body  and  mind,  and  remarkably  unsusceptible  to 
human  magnetism.  Moreover,  he  knows  that  all  forms  of  spirit 
communication  are  subject  to  interpolation  from  earth-minds, 
and  are  of  no  other  or  greater  weight  than  the  truths  they  con 
tain  confer  upon  them. 


COSTUME    OF    SPIRITS.  79 

"Miss  Fox,  the  medium,  deported  herself  with  patient  integ 
rity  of  conduct,  evidently  doing  all  in  her  power,  at  all  times,  to 
promote  a  fair  trial  and  just  decision  of  each  phenomenon  as  it 
occurred.  — JOHN  F.  GRAY." 

The  narrative  of  Mr.  Livermore  includes  nearly  all  the  most 
important  phenomena  which  have  been  experienced  in  connec 
tion  with  these  modern  manifestations.  His  observations  in 
respect  to  the  costume  of  the  supposed  spirits  appear  to  have 
been  careful  and  minute.  This  question  of  the  dress  of  spirits 
has  been  often  discussed.  When  Joan  of  Arc  was  in  mockery 
asked  by  her  judges  about  the  clothing  of  the  spirits  who  visited 
her,  she  replied,  ''Is  it  possible  to  conceive  that  a  God  who  is 
served  by  ministering  spirits  cannot  also  clothe  them?" 

Swedenborg  affirms  that  in  the  spirit-world  all  clothing  is 
representative,  and  is  outwrought  from  the  affections  and  states 
of  its  several  inhabitants. 

Some  seers  have  asserted  that  the  spiritual  body  is  composed 
of  a  subtle  ether,  and  that  spirits  make  themselves  visible  by 
means  of  its  vibration,  and  can  give  what  forms  they  please,  by 
a  mere  effort  of  the  will,  to  their  coverings ;  that  the  human 
body  itself,  and  the  garments  we  wear,  are  composed  of  the  same 
ultimate  particles  of  matter;  and  that  the  spiritual  fabric  is 
nothing  but  those  ultimate  particles  in  their  most  attenuated 
state.  Of  the  power  of  spirits  to  use  the  elements  of  our  own 
atmosphere,  in  giving  concretion,  visibility,  and  tangibility, 
odor  and  color,  to  forms,  the  experiences  of  Mr.  Livermore  and 
others  offer  strong  testimony.  The  subject  is  one  which  a  more 
advanced  science  may  some  day  be  able  to  explore. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

MANIFESTATIONS  THROUGH   MR.    HOME. 

"  We  all  are  at  once  mortal  and  immortal ;  inhabitants  of  time  and  dwellers  in  eter 
nity."—  H.  J.  Slack. 

DANIEL  DUNGLASS  HOME  was  born  near  Edinburgh, 
March,  1833.  When  about  a  year  old,  he  was  adopted  by 
an  aunt.  Some  eight  years  afterwards  he  accompanied  her  and 
her  husband  to  America.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  was  resid 
ing  at  Norwich,  Conn.  Soon  after  the  developments  at  Hydes- 
ville,  through  the  Fox  family,  he  began  to  manifest  extraordinary 
powers  as  a  medium,  and  in  1851  had  acquired  considerable 
reputation  among  those  interested  in  the  phenomena  in  the 
United  States. 

He  went  to  Europe  early  in  the  spring  of  1855 ;  and  his  career 
there,  in  the  exercise  of  his  wonderful  gifts,  has  been  of  a  charac 
ter  to  bring  him  repeatedly  before  the  public. 

Not  long  since  he  was  a  party  to  a  lawsuit,  at  the  trial  of 
which  he  was  the  subject  of  a  good  deal  of  abuse  and  misrep 
resentation  by  the  English  press.  It  was  the  celebrated  case  of 
Lyon  -versus  Home.  The  plaintiff,  Mrs.  Lyon,  was  a  widow 
lady,  seventy  years  old  or  more,  possessed  of  a  considerable  for 
tune,  and  without  any  child  or  near  relative.  Having  read  Mr. 
Home's  ''Incidents  of  My  Life,"  she  called  on 'him,  introduced 
herself  (Oct.  30,  1866),  and  asked  him  to  visit  her.  He  did  so; 
and,  after  two  or  three  interviews,  she  proposed  to  make  him 
her  adopted  son.  In  November,  she  executed  a  will  in  his  favor; 
and  the  next  month  he  took  the  name  of  Lyon,  advertising  the 
fact.  She  executed  a  deed,  confirming  a  gift  of  £24,000,  and 
Adding  £6,000;  and.  finally,  in  January,  1867,  she  conveyed 


MR.    HOME    AND    MRS.    LYON.  8l 

to  him,  after  the  reservation  of  a  life-interest,  a  further  snm  of 
£30,000.  All  this  was  done  in  legal  form,  and  after  deliberation 
and  consultation. 

Whether  it  was  the  part  of  good  taste  and  manly  independence 
in  Mr.  Home  to  accept  these  large  sums,  we  decline  to  discuss ; 
but  we  will  venture  the  remark,  that,  among  the  self-righteous 
ones  who  have  made  him  the  subject  of  their  denunciations,  there 
is  probably  not  an  individual  who,  under  similar  circumstances, 
would  not  have  consented  to  be  enriched  in  the  same  way. 

From  the  facts  in  Mr.  Home's  affidavit,  we  are  led  to  infer  that 
it  was  not  till  after  he  had  been  thus  formally  adopted  by  the 
old  lady  as  a  son,  that  he  discovered  she  had  been  calculating  on 
his  marrying  her.  "Do  you  know,"  said  she,  "that  nothing 
would  be  greater  fun  than  that  I  should  marry  you?  How  the 
world  would  talk!"  Mr.  Home  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
agreeably  impressed  by  the  intimation. 

In  her  bill  of  complaint,  Mrs.  Lyon  asserted  that  she  was 
made  to  believe  by  Home,  "  that  the  spirit  of  her  deceased  hus 
band  required  her  to  adopt  the  said  defendant."  It  very  soon 
appeared  on  the  trial,  by  her  own  displays  of  wilfulness  and 
headstrong  unveracity,  that  the  old  lady  was  one  whom  neither 
spirits  out  of  the  flesh  nor  in  the  flesh  would  be  likely  to  influ 
ence  to  do  what  was  contrary  to  her  own  caprice.  She  contra 
dicted  her  own  testimony  so  grossly,  that  even  the  presiding 
Vice-Chancellor  —  bitterly  prejudiced  as  he  was  against  Mr. 
Home  and  against  Spiritualism — could  not  avoid  speaking  of 
her  testimony  as  "  clearly  untrustworthy,  and  such  as  no  man 
ought  to  have  his  case  decided  upon  against  him." 

And  yet  there  was  no  evidence  whatever,  except  her  own 
assertion,  that  Mr.  Home  had  tried  to  get  her  to  adopt  him,  by 
representing  that  her  departed  husband  recommended  it.  Mrs. 
Lyon  seems  to  have  been  dazzled  by  the  social  position  which 
she  fancied  that  Home  occupied,  by  his  presents  from  kings 
and  emperors,  and  to  have  aspired  to  mix  in  the  aristocratic 
World,  and  to  assume  in  her  old  age  a  rank  from  which  she  had 
been  all  her  life  excluded. 

6 


82  PLANCHETTE. 

She  soon  found  she  had  miscalculated  in  regard  to  Mr.  Home. 
Instead  of  taking  her  matrimonial  hints,  he  was  so  unaccommo 
dating  as  to  fall  ill,  and  threaten  to  die.  He  had  a  little  boy  for 
whom  Mrs.  Lyon  conceived  a  deadly  dislike;  and  she  now  saw 
before  her  the  prospect  of  the  large  sums  she  had  parted  with 
going  to  enrich  this  youth.  One  fine  day,  as  Mr.  Home  was 
about  starting  for  Paris,  he  was  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison 
under  a  writ  of  ne  exeat  regno. 

The  trial  came  on  in  the  spring  of  1868,  before  Vice-Chancellor 
Giffard,  who  decided  the  case  adversely  to  Mr.  Home,  ordering 
him  to  restore  all  the  money  he  had  received  from  Mrs.  Lyon. 
From  this  decision  Mr.  Home  appealed ;  but  lately  there  has 
been  a  compromise  between  the  parties,  which  ends  the  affair. 

The  fable  of  the  wolf  and  the  lamb  is  recalled  by  Mrs.  Lyon's 
attempt  to  show  that  she  was  under  the  "undue  influence,  as 
cendency,  and  power"  of  Mr.  Home.  Hers  appears  to  have 
been  the  stronger  will  in  the  case ;  and  she  had  every  thing  her 
own  way. 

The  affidavit  of  Mr.  Home  sets  forth,  that  from  his  childhood 
he  has  been  subject  to  the  occasional  happening  of  singular 
physical  phenomena  in  his  presence,  which  are  most  certainly 
not  produced  by  him  or  by  any  other  person  in  connection  with 
him.  "I  have,"  he  affirms,  "no  control  over  them  whatever: 
they  occur  irregularly,  and  even  when  I  am  asleep.  Sometimes 
I  am  many  months,  and  once  I  have  been  a  year,  without  them. 
I  cannot  account  for  them  further  than  by  supposing  them  to  be 
effected  by  intelligent  beings  or  spirits.  Similar  phenomena 
occur  to  many  other  persons.  .  .  .  These  phenomena,  occurring 
in  my  presence,  have  been  witnessed  by  thousands  of  intelligent 
and  respectable  persons,  including  men  of  business,  science,  and 
literature,  under  circumstances  which  would  have  rendered, 
even  if  I  had  desired  it,  all  trickery  impossible." 

Mr.  Home  proceeds  to  affirm  that  they  have  also  been  wit 
nessed  in  their  own  private  apartments,  when  any  contrivance 
of  his  must  have  been  detected,  by  the  emperor  and  empress  of 
the  French,  the  emperor  of  Russia  and  his  family,  the  king  of 


MR.    HOME'S    AFFIDAVIT.  83 

Prussia,  and  other  royal  personages,  who  have  had  ample  oppor 
tunities,  which  they  have  used,  of  investigating  the  phenomena 
and  inquiring  into  the  character  of  the  medium. 

"I  have  resided,"  continues  Mr.  Home,  "in  America,  Eng 
land,  France,  Italy,  Germany,  and  Russia;  and  in  every  country 
I  have  been  received  as  a  guest  and  friend  by  persons  in  the 
highest  position,  who  were  quite  competent  to  discover  and 
expose,  as  they  ought  to  have  done,  any  thing  like  contrivance 
on  my  part  to  produce  these  phenomena.  I  do  not  seek,  and 
never  have  sought,  the  acquaintance  of  any  of  these  exalted 
personages.  They  have  sought  me;  and  I  have  thus  had  a  cer 
tain  notoriety  thrust  upon  me.  I  do  not  take  money,  and  never 
have  taken  it ;  although  it  has  been  repeatedly  offered  me  for  or 
in  respect  of  these  phenomena.  .  .  .  Some  of  the  phenomena  in 
question  are  noble  and  elevated,  others  appear  to  be  grotesque 
and  undignified.  For  this  I  am  not  reponsible,  any  more  than  I 
am  for  the  many  grotesque  and  undignified  things  which  are 
undoubtedly  permitted  to  exist  in  the  material  world.  I  sol 
emnly  swear  that  I  do  not  produce  the  phenomena  aforesaid, 
or,  in  any  way  whatever,  aid  in  producing  them." 

In  the  course  of  the  cross-examination,  Mr.  Home  said,  "I 
have  seen  spirits  ;  have  conversed  with  them  orally.  They  have 
called  to  me  in  sounds  audible  to  my  ear;  and  I  have  talked  to 
them.  Strange  sounds  are  heard,  like  a  rapping.  It  does  not 
indicate  who  the  spirit  is.  We  take  it  for  granted,  the  same  as 
in  the  call  of  the  telegraph  wire,  that  there  is  an  intelligence 
there  at  the  end  of  it.  The  language  used  by  the  spirits  is 
exceedingly  beautiful  and  elevated. 

"I  have  been  bodily  displaced  in  violation  of  the  ordinary 
rules  of  gravity.  (I  must  protest  against  its  being  supposed 
that  I  am  the  only  person  to  whom  this  has  occurred.)  Chairs 
and  tables  have  been  moved  in  the  same  way.  I  have  found  a 
useful  result  of  Spiritualism  in  convincing  those  who  did  not 
believe  in  it  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul." 

Mr.  Home  is  a  person  of  very  delicate  constitution  and  ex 
treme  nervous  sensibility.  He  is  tall,  slender,  and  fair-haired, 


84  PLANCHETTE. 

and  does  not  convey  the  idea  of  robustness,  physical  or  mental. 
His  acquaintances  generally  appear  to  have  mingled  in  their 
regard  for  him  a  sort  of  tenderness,  as  if  he  were  one  to  be 
shielded  from  the  rougher  experiences  of  life.  Those  who  have 
known  him  best,  testify  to  his  character  as  "  a  man  of  honor 
and  proper  moral  feeling." 

Our  first  call  on  Mr.  Home  was  made  without  signifying  our 
intention  to  any  one.  We  had  never  seen  him  or  corresponded 
with  him,  and  did  not  suppose  that  he  even  knew  us  by  name. 
But  as  we  rang  the  bell,  he,  without  having  seen  us,  said  to 

Mrs.  R.,  at  whose  house  he  was  stopping,  "That  is  Mr. 

who  rings.  He  has  come  to  call  on  me." 

Dr.  Winslow  Lewis,  long  known  as  one  of  the  most  eminent 
surgeons  of  Boston,  informed  us,  in  Home's  presence  (Feb.  21, 
1865),  that  he  (Dr.  L.)  took  up  the  "Boston  Directory"  the 
day  before  to  look  for  a  name  which  he  had  not  mentioned  to 
any  human  being.  "  Here,  I'll  find  it  for  you,"  said  Home, 
taking  the  book  out  of  his  hand,  and  instantly  pointing  to  the 
name. 

Dr.  Lewis  also  told  us  that  he  handed  to  Home  a  photograph- 
album,  full  of  likenesses,  the  originals  of  which  were  unknown 
to  him ;  and  Home  pointed  to  those  persons  who  had  deceased, 
and  in  every  instance  he  was  right. 

"Second  sight,"  said  Home,  joining  in  the  conversation,  "is 
my  strong  point."  (His  mother  had  been  a  seeress.  From  her 
he  had  probably  derived  his  gift.)  "Being  at  a  party  once  in 
London,  I  heard  one  man  say  to  another,  '  Do  you  know  that 
fellow?' — 'Oh,  yes!  that's  that  humbug,  Home.'  At  once  I 
turned  to  the  last  speaker,  and  said,  'Excuse  me,  sir;  but  I  am 
at  this  moment  vividly  impressed  with  the  particulars  of  an 
affair  in  which  you  were  an  actor*  —  let  me  see  —  when  you  were 
twenty-two  years  of  age.  But  I  cannot  help  wondering  why 
you  took  the  course  you  did,  when  you  might  have'  —  here 

*  Instances  of  a  similar  faculty  in  the  lives  of  Zschokke,  the  late  Forceythe  Willson, 
and  others,  are  well  authenticated. 


THACKERAY    A    SPIRITUALIST.  ^ 

I  whispered  the  rest  in  his  ear.  The  man  looked  aghast,  and, 
drawing  me  aside,  said,  '  There  should  be  no  human  being  but 
myself  who  knows  a  word  of  that  affair.  Say  no  more.  You 
have  said  enough.'  This  man  subsequently  became  one  of  my 
best  friends." 

As  these  are  comparatively  very  slight  manifestations  of 
power,  we  will  not  pause  to  anticipate  the  obvious  objections 
which  skepticism  might  raise  to  the  uncorroborated  form  in 
which  they  are  here  put. 

From  the  numerous,  published  accounts,  amounting  now  to 
several  hundred,  by  many  different  witnesses;  of  the  phenomena 
produced  through  the  mediumship  of  Home,  we  select  the 
account,  which  we  slightly  abridge,  by  the  late  Robert  Bell,  con 
tributed  to  the  "  Cornhill  Magazine  "  (London,  August,  1860), 
when  the  late  Mr.  Thackeray  —  so  justly  celebrated  for  his  writ 
ings —  was  the  editor. 

In  introducing  the  account,  Mr.  Thackeray  says,  "  I  can  vouch 
for  the  good  faith  and  honorable  character  of  our  correspondent, 
a  friend  of  twenty-five  years'  standing." 

Of  Mr.  Thackeray's  own  convictions  on  the  subject  we  have 
the  following  record,  which  we  extract  from  Weld's  "Last  Win 
ter  in  Rome"  (1865):  — 

"  I  remember  well  meeting  the  late  Mr.  Thackeray,  at  a  large 
dinner-party,  shortly  after  the  publication  in  the  'Cornhill 
Magazine,'  then  edited  by  him,  of  the  paper  entitled  '  Stranger 
than  Fiction.'  In  this  paper,  as  will  be  remembered  by  many 
readers,  a  detailed  .account  was  given  of  a  spiritual  seance,  at 
which  Mr.  Home  performed,  or  caused  to  be  performed,  many 
surprising  things,  the  most  astounding  being  his  floating  in 
the  air  above  the  heads  of  persons  in  the  room.  There  were 
several  scientific  men  at  the  dinner-party,  all  of  whom  availed 
themselves  of  the  earliest  opportunity  to  reproach  Mr.  Thacke 
ray  with  having  permitted  the  paper  in  question  to  appear  in  a 
periodical  of  which  he  was  editor,  holding,  as  he  did,  the  high 
est  rank  in  the  world  of  letters.  Mr.  Thackeray,  with  that 
imperturbable  calmness  which  he  could  so  well  assume,  heard 


86  PLANCHETTE. 

all  that  was  said  against  him,  and  the  paper  in  question,  and 
thus  replied :  '  It  is  all  very  well  for  you,  who  have  probably 
never  seen  spiritual  manifestations,  to  talk  as  you  do ;  but,  had 
you  seen  what  I  have  witnessed,  you  would  hold  a  different 
opinion.'  He  then  proceeded  to  inform  us  that,  when  in  New 
York,  at  a  dinner-party,  he  saw  the  large  and  heavy  dinner-table, 
covered  with  decanters,  glasses,  dishes,  plates — in  short,  every 
thing  appertaining  to  dessei't — rise  fully  two  feet  from  the 
ground,  the  modus  operandi  being,  as  he  alleged,  spiritual  force. 
No  possible  jugglery,  he  declared,  was  or  could  have  been  em 
ployed  on  the  occasion  ;  and  he  felt  so  convinced  that  the  motive 
force  was  supernatural,  that  he  then  and  there  gave  in  his  adhe 
sion  to  the  truth  of  Spiritualism,  and  consequently  accepted  the 
article  on  Mr.  Home's  seance.  Whether  Mr.  Thackeray  thought 
differently  before  he  died,  I  cannot  say ;  but  this  I  know,  that 
every  possible  argument  was  used  by  those  present  to  endeavor 
to  shake  his  faith  in  Mr.  Home's  spiritual  manifestations,  which 
were,  as  they  declared,  after  all  but  sorry  performances  com 
pared  with  the  surprising  tricks  of  Houdin  or  Frikell." 

We  will  not  longer  detain  the  reader  from  that  part  of  Mr. 
Bell's  paper  relating  to  Mr.  Home  :  — 

"  'I  have  seen  what  I  would  not  have  believed  on  your  testi 
mony,  and  what  I  cannot,  therefore,  expect  you  to  believe  upon 
mine,'  was  the  reply  of  Dr.  Treviranus  to  inquiries  put  to  him 
by  Coleridge  as  to  the  reality  of  certain  magnetic  phenomena, 
which  that  distinguished  savant  was  reported  to  have  witnessed. 
It  appears  to  me  that  I  cannot  do  better  than  adopt  this  answer 
as  an  introduction  to  the  narrative  of  facts  I  am  about  to  relate. 
It  represents  very  clearly  the  condition  of  the  mind  before  and 
after  it  has  passed  through  experiences  of  things  that  are  irrec 
oncilable  with  known  laws.  I  refuse  to  believe  such  things  upon 
the  evidence  of  other  people's  eyes;  and  I  may  possibly  go  so 
far  as  to  protest  that  I  would  not  believe  them  even  on  the  evi 
dence  of  my  own.  When  I  have  seen  them,  however,  I  am 
compelled  to  regard  the  subject  from  an  entirely  different  point 
of  view.  It  is  no  longer  a  question  of  mere  credence  or  author- 


TRUTH    STRANGER    THAN    FICTION.  87 

ity,  but  a  question  of  fact.  Whatever  conclusions,  if  any,  I  may 
have  arrived  at  on  this  question  of  fact,  I  see  distinctly  that  I 
have  been  projected  into  a  better  position  for  judging  of  it  than 
I  occupied  before ;  and  that  what  then  appeared  an  imposition, 
or  a  delusion,  now  assumes  a  shape  which  demands  investiga 
tion. 

"But  I  cannot  expect  persons  who  have  not  witnessed  these 
things,  to  take  my  word  for  them  ;  because,  under  similar  circum 
stances,  I  certainly  should  not  have  taken  theirs.  What  I  do 
expect  is,  that  they  will  admit  as  reasonable,  and  as  being  in 
strict  accordance  with  the  philosophical  method  of  procedure, 
the  mental  progress  I  have  indicated,  from  the  total  rejection  of 
extraordinary  phenomena  upon  the  evidence  of  others,  to  the 
recognition  of  such  phenomena  as  matter  of  fact,  upon  our  own 
direct  observation.  This  recognition  points  the  way  to  inquiry, 
which  is  precisely  what  I  desire  to  promote.  .  .  . 

"  Our  party  of  eight  or  nine  assembled  in  the  evening;  and  the 
seance  commenced  about  nine  o'clock,  in  a  spacious  drawing- 
room,  of  which  it  is  necessary  to  give  some  account,  in  order  to 
render  perfectly  intelligible  what  is  to  follow.  In  different  parts 
of  the  room  were  sofas  and  ottomans,  and  in  the  centre  a  round 
table,  at  which  it  was  arranged  that  the  seance  should  be  held. 
Between  this  table  and  three  windows,  which  filled  up  one  side 
of  the  room,  there  was  a  large  sofa.  The  windows  were  draped 
with  thick  curtains,  and  protected  by  spring-blinds.  The  space 
in  front  of  the  centre-window  was  unoccupied  ;  but  the  windows 
on  the  right  and  left  were  filled  by  geranium-stands. 

"The  company  at  the  table  consisted  partly  of  ladies  and 
partly  of  gentlemen ;  and  amongst  the  gentlemen  was  the  cele 
brated  Mr.  Home.  .  .  .  He  looks  like  a  man  whose  life  has  been 
passed  in  a  mental  conflict.  The  expression  of  his  face  in  repose 
is  that  of  physical  suffering;  but  it  quickly  lights  up  when  you 
address  him,  and  his  natural  cheerfulness  colors  his  whole  man 
ner.  There  is  more  kindliness  and  gentleness  than  vigor  in  the 
character  of  his  features;  and  the  same  easy-natured  disposition 
may  be  traced  in  his  unrestrained  intercourse.  He  is  yet  so 


88  PLANCHETTK. 

young,  that  the  playfulness  of  boyhood  has  not  passed  away ; 
and  he  never  seems  so  thoroughly  at  ease  with  himself  and 
others  as  when  he  is  enjoying  some  light  and  temperate  amuse 
ment.  .  .  . 

"  The  seance  commenced  in  the  centre  of  the  room.  I  pass 
over  the  preliminary  vibrations  to  come  at  once  to  the  more 
remarkable  features  of  the  evening.  From  unmistakable  indi 
cations,  conveyed  in  different  forms,  the  table  was  finally  re 
moved  to  the  centre-window,  displacing  the  sofa,  which  was 
wheeled  away.  The  deep  space  between  the  .table  and  the  win 
dow  was  unoccupied,  but  the  rest  of  the  circle  was  closely  packed. 
Some  sheets  of  white  paper,  and  two  or  three  lead-pencils,  an 
accordion,  a  small  hand-bell,  and  a  few  flowers  were  placed  on 
the  table.  Sundry  communications  now  took  place,  which  I 
will  not  stop  to  describe ;  and  at  length  an  intimation  was 
received,  through  the  usual  channel  of  correspondence,  that  the 
lights  must  be  extinguished.  As  this  direction  is  understood  to 
be  given  only  when  unusual  manifestations  are  about  to  be  made, 
it  was  followed  by  an  interval  of  anxious  suspense.  There  were 
lights  on  the  walls,  mantel-piece,  and  console-table ;  and  the 
process  of  putting  them  out  seemed  tedious.  When  the  last  was 
extinguished,  a  dead  silence  ensued,  in  which  the  tick  of  a  watch 
could  be  heard. 

"  We  must  now  have  been  in  utter  darkness,  but  for  the  pale 
light  that  came  in  through  the  window,  and  the  flickering  glare 
thrown  fitfully  over  a  distant  part  of  the  room  by  a  fire  which 
was  rapidly  sinking  in  the  grate.  We  could  see,  but  could 
scarcely  distinguish,  our  hands  upon  the  table.  A  festoon  of 
dull  gleaming  forms  round  the  circle  represented  what  we  knew 
to  be  our  hands.  An  occasional  ray  from  the  window  now  and 
then  revealed  the  hazy  surface  of  the  white  sheets,  and  the  misty 
bulk  of  the  accordion.  We  knew  where  these  were  placed  ;  and 
could  discover  them  with  the  slightest  assistance  from  the  gray, 
cold  light  of  a  watery  sky.  The  stillness  of  expectation  that 
ensued  during  the  first  few  minutes  of  that  visible  darkness  was 
so  profound  that,  for  all  the  sounds  of  life  that  were  heard,  it 
might  have  been  an  empty  chamber. 


ROBERT  BELL'S  NARRATIVE.         89 

"The  table  and  the  window,  and  the  space  between  the  table 
and  the  window,  engrossed  all  eyes.  It  was  in  that  direction 
everybody  instinctively  looked  for  a  revelation.  Presently,  the 
tassel  of  the  cord  of  the  spring-blind  began  to  tremble.  We 
could  see  it  plainly  against  the  sky;  and,  attention  being  drawn 
to  the  circumstance,  every  eye  was  upon  the  tassel.  Slowly, 
and  apparently  with  caution,  or  difficulty,  the  blind  began  to 
descend :  the  cord  was  evidently  being  drawn ;  but  the  force 
applied  to  pull  down  the  blind  seemed  feeble  and  uncertain.  It 
succeeded,  however,  at  last;  and  the  room  was  thrown  into 
deeper  darkness  than  before.  But  our  vision  was  becoming 
accustomed  to  it;  and  masses  of  things  were  growing  palpable  to 
us,  although  we  could  see  nothing  distinctly.  Several  times,  at 
intervals,  the  blind  was  raised  and  pulled  down ;  but,  capricious 
as  the  movement  appeared,  the  ultimate  object  seemed  to  be  to 
diminish  the  light. 

"A  whisper  passed  round  the  table  about  hands  having  been 
seen  or  felt.  Unable  to  answer  for  what  happened  to  others,  I 
will  speak  only  of  what  I  observed  myself.  The  table-cover  was 
drawn  over  my  knees,  as  it  was  with  the  others.  I  felt  distinctly 
a  twitch,  several  times  repeated,  at  my  knee.  It  was  the  sensa 
tion  of  a  boy's  hand,  partly  scratching,  partly  striking,  and 
pulling  me  in  play.  It  went  away.  Others  described  the  same 
sensation ;  and  the  celerity  with  which  it  frolicked,  like  Puck, 
under  the  table,  now  at  one  side  and  now  at  another,  was  sur 
prising.  Soon  after,  what  seemed  to  be  a  large  hand  came 
under  the  table-cover,  and  with  the  fingers  clustered  to  a  point, 
raised  it  between  me  and  the  table.  Somewhat  too  eager  to 
satisfy  my  curiosity,  I  seized  it,  felt  it  very  sensibly;  but  it  went 
out,  like  air,  in  my  grasp.  I  know  of  no  analogy  in  connection 
with  the  sense  of  touch  by  which  I  could  make  the  nature  of  that 
feeling  intelligible.  It  was  as  palpable  as  any  soft  substance, 
velvet,  or  pulp ;  and  at  the  touch  it  seemed  as  solid ;  but  press 
ure  reduced  it  to  air. 

"  It  was  now  suggested  that  one  of  the  party  should  hold  the 
hand-bell  under  the  table ;  which  was  no  sooner  done  than  it 


90  PLANCHETTE. 

was  taken  away,  and  after  being  rung  at  different  points  was 
finally  returned,  still  under  the  table,  into  the  hand  of  another 
person. 

"While  this  was  going  forward,  the  white  sheets  were  seen 
moving,  and  gradually  disappeared  over  the  edge  of  the  table. 
Long  afterwards  we  heard  them  creasing  and  crumpling  on  the 
floor,  and  saw  them  returned  again  to  the  table ;  but  there  was 
no  writing  upon  them.  In  the  same  way,  the  flowers  which  lay 
near  the  edge  were  removed.  The  semblance  of  what  seemed  a 
hand,  with  white,  long,  and  delicate  fingers,  rose  up  slowly  in 
the  darkness,  and,  bending  over  a  flower,  suddenly  vanished  with 
it.  This  occurred  two  or  three  times ;  and  although  each 
appearance  was  not  equally  palpable  to  every  person,  there  was 
no  person  who  did  not  see  some  of  them.  The  flowers  were 
distributed  in  the  manner  in  which  they  had  been  removed ;  a 
hand,  of  which  the  lambent  gleam  was  visible,  slowly  ascending 
from  beneath  the  cover,  and  placing  the  flower  in  the  hand  for 
which  it  was  intended.  In  the  flower-stands  in  the  adjoining 
window,  we  could  hear  geranium-blossoms  snapped  oft",  which 
were  afterwards  thrown  to  different  persons. 

"Still  more  extraordinary  was  that  which  followed,  or  rather 
which  took  place,  while  we  were  watching  this  transfer  of  the 
flowers.  Those  who  had  keen  eyes,  and  who  were  in  the  best 
position  for  catching  the  light  upon  the  instrument,  declared 
that  they  saw  the  accordion  in  motion.  I  could  not.  It  was  as 
black  as  pitch  to  me.  But,  concentrating  my  attention  on  the' 
spot  where  I  supposed  it  to  be,  I  soon  perceived  a  dark  mass  rise 
awkwardly  above  the  edge  of  the  table,  and  then  go  down,  the 
instrument  emitting  a  single  sound,  produced  by  its  being  struck 
against  the  table  as  it  went  over.  It  descended  to  the  floor  in 
silence ;  and  a  quarter  of  an  hour  afterwards,  when  we  were 
engaged  in  observing  some  fresh  phenomena,  we  heard  the 
accordion  beginning  to  play  where  it  lay  on  the  ground. 

"Apart  from  the  wonderful  consideration  of  its  being  played 
without  hands,  no  less  wonderful  was  the  fact  of  its  being 
played  in  a  narrow  space,  which  would  not  admit  of  its  being 


SPIRIT-MUSIC.  pi 

drawn  out  with  the  requisite  freedom  to  its  full  extent.  We 
listened  with  suspended  breath.  The  air  was  wild,  and  full  of 
strange  transitions,  with  a  wail  of  the  most  pathetic  sweetness 
running  through  it.  The  execution  was  no  less  remarkable  for 
its  delicacy  than  its  power.  When  the  notes  swelled  in  some  of 
the  bold  passages,  the  sound  rolled  through  the  room  with  an 
astounding  reverberation ;  then,  gently  subsiding,  sank  into  a 
strain  of  divine  tenderness.  But  it  was  the  close  that  touched 
the  hearts,  and  drew  the  tears  of  the  listeners.  Milton  dreamt  of 
this  wondrous  termination  when  he  wrote  of  '  linked  sweetness 
Jong  drawn  out.'  By  what  art  the  accordion  was  made  to  yield 
that  dying  note,  let  practical  musicians  determine.  Our  ears, 
that  heard  it,  had  never  before  been  visited  by  '  a  sound  so  fine.' 
It  continued  diminishing  and  diminishing,  and  stretching  far 
away  into  distance  and  darkness,  until  the  attenuated  thread  of 
sound  became  so  exquisite  that  it  was  impossible  at  last  to  fix 
the  moment  when  it  ceased. 

"That  an  instrument  should  be  played  without  hands,  is  a 
proposition  which  nobody  can  be  expected  to  accept.  The  whole 
story  will  be  referred  to  one  of  the  two  categories  under  which 
the  whole  of  these  phenomena  are  consigned  by  '  common  sense.' 
It  will  be  discarded  as  a  delusion  or  a  fraud.  Either  we  ima 
gined  we  heard  it,  and  really  did  not  hear  it;  or  there  was  some 
one  under  the  table,  or  some  mechanism  was  set  in  motion  to 
produce  the  result.  Having  made  the  statement,  I  feel  that  I  am 
bound,  as  far  as  I  can,  to  answer  these  objections,  which  I  admit 
to  be  perfectly  reasonable.  Upon  the  likelihood  of  delusion,  my 
testimony  is  obviously  worth  nothing.  With  respect  to  fraud,  I 
may  speak  more  confidently.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  that 
in  so  small  a  circle,  occupied  by  so  many  persons,  wrio  were 
inconveniently  packed  together,  there  was  not  room  for  a  child 
of  the  size  of  a  doll,  or  for  the  smallest  piece  of  machinery,  to 
operate.  But  we  need  not  speculate  on  what  might  be  done  by 
skilful  contrivances  in  confines  so  narrow,  since  the  question  is 
removed  out  of  the  region  of  conjecture  by  the  fact,  that,  upon 
holding  up  the  instrument  myself  in  one  hand,  in  the  open  room, 


92  PJLANCHETTE. 

with  the  full  light  upon  it,  similar  strains  were  emitted,  the 
regular  action  of  the  accordion  going  on  without  any  visible 
agency.  And  I  should  add  that,  during  the  loud  and  vehement 
passages,  it  became  so  difficult  to  hold,  in  consequence  of  the  ex 
traordinary  power  with  which  it  was  played  front  below,  that  I  was 
obliged  to  grasp  the  top  with  both  hands.  This  experience 
was  not  a  solitary  one.  I  witnessed  the  same  result  on  different 
occasions,  when  the  instrument  was  held  by  others. 

"It  is  not  my  purpose  to  chronicle  all  the  phenomena  of  the 
evening,  but  merely  to  touch  upon  some  of  the  most  prominent; 
and  that  which  follows,  and  which  brought  us  to  the  conclusion 
of  the  seance,  is  distinguished  from  the  rest  by  this  peculiarity, 
—  that  it  takes  us  entirely  out  of  that  domain  of  the  marvellous 
in  which  the  media  are  inanimate  objects. 

"  Mr.  Home  was  seated  next  to  the  window.  Through  the 
semi-darkness  his  head  was  dimly  visible  against  the  curtains, 
and  his  hands  might  be  seen  in  a  faint  white  heap  before  him. 
Presently,  he  said,  in  a  quiet  voice,  'My  chair  is  moving;  I  am 
off  the  ground:  don't  notice  me;  talk  of  something  else,'  or 
words  to  that  effect.  It  was  very  difficult  to  restrain  the  curios 
ity,  not  unmixed  with  a  more  serious  feeling,  which  these  few 
words  awakened ;  but  we  talked,  incoherently  enough,  upon 
some  indifferent  topic.  I  was  sitting  nearly  opposite  to  Mr. 
Home;  and  I  saw  his  hands  disappear  from  the  table,  and  his 
head  vanish  into  the  deep  shadow  beyond.  In  a  moment  or  two 
more  he  spoke  again.  This  time  his  voice  was  in  the  air  above 
our  heads.  He  had  risen  from  his  chair  to  a  height  of  four  or 
five  feet  from  the  ground.  As  he  ascended  higher,  he  described  his 
position,  which  at  first  was  perpendicular,  and  afterwards  became 
horizontal.  He  said  he  felt  as  if  he  had  "been  turned  in  the  gen 
tlest  manner,  as  a  child  is  turned  in  the  arms  of  a  nurse.  In  a 
moment  or  two  more,  he  told  us  that  he  was  going  to  pass  across 
the  window,  against  the  gray,  silvery  light  of  which  he  would  be 
visible.  We  watched  in  profound  stillness,  and  saw  his  figure 
pass  from  one  side  of  the  window  to  the  other,  feet  foremost, 
lying  horizontally  in  the  air.  He  spoke  to  us  as  he  passed,  and 


MANIFESTATIONS    THROUGH    MR.    HOME.  93 

told  us  that  he  would  turn  the  reverse  way,  and  recross  the 
window;  which  he  did.  His  own  tranquil  confidence  in  the 
safety  of  what  seemed  from  below  a  situation  of  the  most  novel 
peril,  gave  confidence  to  everybody  else;  but,  with  the  strongest 
nerves,  it  was  impossible  not  to  be  conscious  of  a  certain  sensa 
tion  of  fear  or  awe.  He  hovered  round  the  circle  for  several 
minutes,  and  passed,  this  time  perpendicularly,  over  our  heads. 
I  heard  his  voice  behind  me  in  the  air,  and  felt  something  lightly 
brush  my  chair.  It  was  his  foot,  which  he  gave  me  leave  to 
touch.  Turning  to  the  spot  where  it  was  on  the  top  of  the  chair, 
I  placed  my  hand  gently  upon  it,  when  he  uttered  a  cry  of  pain ; 
and  the  foot  was  withdrawn  quickly,  with  a  palpable  shudder. 
It  was  evidently  not  resting  on  the  chair,  but  floating;  and  it 
sprang  from  the  touch  as  a  bird  would.  He  now  passed  over  to 
the  farthest  extremity  of  the  room ;  and  we  could  judge  by  his 
voice  of  the  altitude  and  distance  he  had  attained.  He  had 
reached  the  ceiling,  upon  which  he  made  a  slight  mark,  and 
soon  afterwards  descended,  and  resumed  his  place  at  the  table. 
An  incident  which  occurred  during  this  aerial  passage,  and 
imparted  a  strange  solemnity  to  it,  was  that  the  accordion,  which 
we  supposed  to  be  on  the  ground  under  the  window,  close  to  us, 
played  a  strain  of  wild  pathos  in  the  air  from  the  most  distant 
corner  of  the  room. 

"  I  give  the  driest  and  most  literal  account  of  these  scenes, 
rather  than  run  the  risk  of  being  carried  away  into  descriptions 
which,  however  true,  might  look  like  exaggerations.  But  the 
reader  can  understand,  without  much  assistance  in  the  way  of 
suggestion,  that  at  such  moments,  when  the  room  is  in  deep 
twilight,  and  strange  things  are  taking  place,  the  imagination  is 
ready  to  surrender  itself  to  the  belief  that  the  surrounding  space 
is  inhabited  by  supernatural  presences.  Then  is  heard  the  tread 
of  spirits,  with  velvet  steps,  across  the  floor ;  then  the  ear  catches 
the  plaintive  murmur  of  the  departed  child,  whispering  a  tender 
cry  of  '  Mother ! '  through  the  darkness  ;  and  then  it  is  that  forms 
of  dusky  vapor  are  seen  in  motion,  and  colored  atmospheres  rise 
round  the  figures  that  form  that  circle  of  listeners  and  watchers. 


94  PLANCHETTE. 

I  exclude  all  such  sights  and  sounds  because  they  do  not  admit 
of  direct  and  satisfactory  evidence,  and  because  no  sufficient 
answer  can  be  made  to  the  objection,  that  they  may  be  the 
unconscious  work  of  the  imagination. 

"  Palpable  facts,  witnessed  by  many  people,  stand  on  a  widely 
different  ground.  If  the  proofs  of  their  occurrence  be  perfectly 
legitimate,  the  nature  of  the  facts  themselves  cannot  be  admitted 
as  a  valid  reason  for  refusing  to  accept  them  as  facts.  Evidence, 
if  it  be  otherwise  trustworthy,  is  not  invalidated  by  the  unlikeli 
hood  of  that  which  it  attests.  What  is  wanted  here,  then,  is  to 
treat  facts  as  facts,  and  not  to  decide  the  question  over  the  head 
of  the  evidence. 

"To  say  that  certain  phenomena  are  incredible,  is  merely  to 
say  that  they  are  inconsistent  with  the  present  state  of  our 
knowledge ;  but,  knowing  how  imperfect  our  knowledge  is,  we 
are  not,  therefore,  justified  in  asserting  that  they  are  impossible. 
The  '  failures '  which  have  occurred  at  seances  are  urged  as 
proofs  that  the  whole  thing  is  a  cheat.  If  such  an  argument  be 
worth  noticing,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  ten  thousand  failures 
do  not  disprove  a  single  fact.  But  it  must  be  evident  that,  as  we 
do  not  know  the  conditions  of  '  success,'  we  cannot  draw  any 
argument  from  '  failures.'  We  often  hear  people  say  that  they 
might  believe  such  a  thing,  if  such  another  thing  were  to  hap 
pen  ;  making  assent  to  a  particular  fact,  by  an  odd  sort  of  logic, 
depend  upon  the  occurrence  of  something  else.  '  I  will  believe,' 
for  example,  says  a  philosopher  of  this  stamp,  '  that  a  table  has 
risen  from  the  ground,  when  I  see  the  lamp-posts  dancing  qua 
drilles.  Then,  tables?  Why  do  these  things  happen  to  tables?' 
Why,  that  is  one  of  the  very  matters  which  it  is  desirable  to 
investigate,  but  which  we  shall  never  know  any  thing  about  so 
long  as  we  ignore  inquiry. 

"And,  above  all,  of  what  use  are  these  wonderful  manifesta 
tions?  What  do  they  prove?  What  benefit  have  they  conferred 
on  the  world?  Sir  John  Herschel  has  answered  these  questions 
with  a  weight  of  authority  which  is  final.  '  The  question,  Cut 
bono?  —  to  what  practical  end  and  advantage  do  your  researches 


CONFIRMATION    OF    MR.    BELL  S    NARRATIVE.  95 

tend?  —  is  one  which  the  speculative  philosopher,  who  loves 
knowledge  for  its  own  sake,  and  enjoys,  as  a  rational  being 
should  enjoy,  the  mere  contemplation  of  harmonious  and  mutu 
ally  dependent  truths,  can  seldom  hear  without  a  sense  of 
humiliation.  He  feels  that  there  is  a  lofty  and  disinterested 
pleasure  in  his  speculations,  which  ought  to  exempt  them  from 
such  questioning.  But,'  adds  Sir  John,  'if  he  can  bring  himself 
to  descend  from  this  high  but  fair  ground,  and  justify  himself, 
his  pursuits,  and  his  pleasures,  in  the  eyes  of  those  around  him, 
he  has  only  to  point  to  the  history  of  all  science,  where  specula 
tions,  apparently  the  most  unprofitable,  have  almost  invariably 
been  those  from  which  the  greatest  practicable  applications  have 
emanated.' 

"The  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  collect  and  verify  facts.  But 
this  can  never  be  done  if  we  insist  upon  refusing  to  receive  any 
facts,  except  such  as  shall  appear  to  us  likely  to  be  true,  according 
to  the  measure  of  our  intelligence  and  knowledge.  My  object  is 
to  apply  this  truism  to  the  case  of  the  phenomena  of  which  we 
have  been  speaking;  an  object  which  I  hope  will  not  be  over 
looked  by  any  persons  who  may  do  me  the  honor  to  quote  this 
narratjve." 

Of  this  account,  Dr.  J.  M.  Gully  (known  to  many  American 
as  well  as  English  patients),  who  was  present  at  the  seance,  and 
the  neighbor  of  Mr.  Bell,  says,  "  I  can  state  with  the  greatest 
positiveness  that  the  record  is,  in  every  particular,  correct;  and 
that  no  trick,  machinery,  sleight-of-hand,  or  other  artistic  con 
trivance,  produced  what  we  heard  and  beheld.  ...  I  may  add 
that  the  writer  omits  to  mention  several  curious  phenomena.  A 
distinguished  litterateur,  who  was  present,  asked  the  supposed 
spirit  of  his  father  whether  he  would  play  his  favorite  ballad  for 
us.  Almost  immediately  the  flute-notes  of  the  accordion  (which 
was  on  the  floor)  played  through,  '  Ye  banks  and  braes  of  Bonnie 
Doon,'  which  the  gentleman  assured  us  was  his  father's  favorite 
air,  whilst  the  flute  was  his  father's  favorite  instrument.  He  then 
asked  for  another  favorite  air,  not  Scotch,  of  his  father's,  and 
*  The  Last  Rose  of  Summer'  was  played  in  the  same  note.  This,' 
the  gentleman  told  us,  was  the  air  to  which  he  had  alluded." 


96  PLANCHETTE. 

Mr.  C.  F.  Varley,  the  electrician,  in  a  letter  dated  May  7th, 
1868,  gives  an  account  of  a  sitting  at  his  own  house,  with  Mr. 
Home ;  when  a  large  ottoman,  capable  of  seating  eight  persons, 
was  moved  all  over  the  room,  and  a  side-table  was  driven  up  to 
him  by  invisible  means  ;  Mr.  V.  having  hold  of  both  Mr.  Home's 
hands  and  legs  at  the  time.  "Imposture,"  says  Mr.  V.,  "was 
impossible." 

In  the  third  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Daniel,  we  read  that  King 
Nebuchadnezzar  caused  three  men,  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and 
Abednego,  to  be  bound  and  cast  into  a  burning,  fiery  furnace. 
But  a  fourth  form,  like  unto  "  the  Son  of  God,"  was  seen  walk 
ing  with  the  three,  loose  from  their  bonds,  in  the  fire.  "  And  the 
princes,  governors,  and  captains,  and  the  king's  counsellors, 
being  gathered  together,  saw  these  men  upon  whose  bodies  the 
fire  had  no  power,  nor  was  a  hair  of  their  head  singed,  neither 
were  their  coats  changed,  nor  the  smell  of  fire  had  passed  on 
them." 

Investigators  into  modern  spiritual  phenomena  will  not  ques 
tion  the  literal  truth  of  this  narrative.  The  facts  have  been 
paralleled  repeatedly  during  the  last  twenty  years. 

The  ordeal  by  fire  is  of  great  antiquity.  It  was  known  to  the 
Greeks.  In  one  of  the  plays  of  Sophocles,  a  suspected  person 
declares  himself  ready  "  to  handle  hot  iron,  and  to  walk  over 
fire"  in  proof  of  his  innocence. 

Blackstone,  the  great  legal  authority,  writes,  "Fire-ordeal 
was  performed  either  by  taking  up  in  the  hand,  unhurt,  a  piece 
of  red-hot  iron,  of  one,  two,  or  three  pounds'  weight;  or  else  by 
walking,  barefoot  and  blindfold,  over  nine  red-hot  ploughshares, 
laid  lengthwise  at  unequal  distances;  and  if  the  party  escaped 
being  hurt,  he  was  adjudged  innocent;  but  if  it  happened  other 
wise,  he  was  then  condemned  as  guilty.  By  this  method,  Q^ieen 
Emma,  the  mother  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  is  mentioned  to 
have  cleared  her  character  when  suspected  of  familiarity  with 
Alwyn,  Bishop  of  Winchester." 

The  ordeal  was  accompanied  with  religious  service,  within  con 
secrated  walls;  and  the  solemnity  with  which  the  Church  super- 


THE    ORDEAL    BY    FIRE.  97 

intended  the  appeal  to  Heaven  invested  it  with  a  sacred  char 
acter.  A  form  of  ritual  was  appointed  by  ecclesiastical  author 
ity.  It  will  be  familiar  to  many  readers,  from  its  being  given 
by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  the  historical  Notes  to  his  "  Fair  Maid  of 
Perth." 

The  theory  that  the  exemption,  in  these  cases,  from  harm  by 
fire  was  the  result  of  trick,  or  fraud,  or  the  contrivance  ot 
priestcraft;  that  chemical  agencies  were  applied  to  protect  the 
body  from  the  natural  effects  of  fire  ;  that  some  liniment  was  used 
to  anoint  the  soles  of  the  feet;  that  asbestos  was  mixed  with  a 
composition  to  cover  the  skin ;  that  the  hands  were  protected  by 
asbestos  gloves,  so  made  as  to  imitate  the  skin,  —  is  all  pure 
supposition.  There  is  no  evidence  to  support  it:  it  is  simple 
conjecture  as  to  how  it  is  supposed  these  things  might  have  been 
done,  not  evidence  as  to  how  they  really  were  done.  To  prevent 
the  defendant  from  preparing  his  hands  by  art,  and  in  order  to 
ascertain  the  result  of  the  ordeal,  his  hands  were  covered  up 
and  sealed  during  the  three  days  which  preceded  and  followed 
the  fiery  application ;  and  it  is  an  entirely  gratuitous  conjecture 
that  those  in  whose  care  the  accused  was  placed  made  use  of 
these  opportunities  to  apply  preventives  to  those  whom  they 
wished  to  acquit,  and  to  bring  back  the  hands  to  their  natural 
condition.  "•  Even  were  the  clergy,  generally,  base  enough,  and 
impious  enough."  says  Mr.  Shorter,  "to  resort  to  these  juggling 
tricks,  and  blasphemously  appeal  to  Heaven  with  a  lie  in  their 
mouths,  and  with  the  consciousness  of  so  monstrous  a  fraud, 
this  could  scarcely  have  been  done  without  the  connivance  of 
magistrates  and  civil  rulers,  who  were  not  always  well  disposed 
to  the  Church,  but  not  unfrequently  looked  upon  the  ecclesiasti 
cal  authorities  with  a  jealous  eye." 

The  instances  are  quite  numerous  in  which  American  mediums 
have  thrust  their  hands  into  the  flames  of  hot  fire,  and  held 
them  there  for  a  minute  or  more. 

At  a  seance  in  London,  in  1860,  in  the  presence  of  several  per 
sons  (whose  names  are  at  the  service  of  the  curious),  Mr.  Home, 
being  entranced,  did,  in  the  presence  of  all,  lay  his  head  on  the 

7 


98  PLAN-CHETTE. 

burning  coals,  where  it  remained  several  moments,  he  sustain 
ing  no  injury  :  not  a  hair  of  his  head  was  singed. 

A  writer,  to  whose  intelligence  and  veracity  Mr.  Shorter  * 
bears  testimony,  has  witnessed  this  fire-test  several  times ;  and, 
to  bring  up  our  chain  of  evidence  to  this  year  of  grace  1868,  we 
quote  from  his  letter,  of  March  of  that  year,  to  Mr.  S.  :  — 

"The  evening  on  which  the  phenomena  I  am  about  to  relate 
occurred,  had  been  full  of  interest,  several  very  remarkable 
manifestations  having  taken  place  :  such  as  the  absorption  of 
water  by  an  unseen  agency,  and  the  retention  of  water  in  an 
open-necked  bottle,  though  the  same  was  inverted  and  violently 
moved  and  swung  about.  Mr.  Home,  who  was  all  the  time  in  a 
deep  trance,  now  poured  several  drops  of  water  upon  his  finger- 
points  ;  and  I  noticed  a  slight  jet  of  steam  rise,  hissingly,  from 
the  ends  of  his  fingers,  and  accompanied  by  flames  of  electric 
light,  or  odic,  of  a  violet,  bluish  color,  half  an  inch  to  an  inch 
in  length,  much  resembling  the  drawings  given  in  Reichen- 
bach's  works.  Still  continuing  in  a  trance,  Mr.  Home  now 
approached  the  fire,  and,  kneeling  down  before  the  hearth,  pro 
ceeded  to  explain  how  great  the  power  of  spiritual  beings  was 
over  matter,  not  because  they  worked  miracles,  but  from  their 
superior  chemical  knowledge ;  adding,  '  We  gladly  have  shown 
you  our  power  over  fluids  :  our  power  over  solids  is  as  great. 
Now  see  how  I  handle  burning  coal;'  then  laying  hold  of  the 
burning  back  of  coal  in  the  hearth  with  his  hands,  he  deliber 
ately  broke  it  asunder;  and,  taking  a  large  lump  of  incandescent 
coal  into  the  palm  of  his  hand  (the  size  of  an  orange),  Mr.  Home 

arose  and  walked  up  to  Mrs.  ,  whose  alarm  at  what  she 

was  witnessing  had  quite  unbalanced  her.  I  examined  his,  hand 
and -wrist ;  the  heat  was  so  intense  that  it  struck  through  the 
back  of  his  hand,  all  but  scorching  his  wristband;  and  Mr. 
Home  then,  addressing  Mrs.  ,  said,  'That  is  a  burning 

*  Under  the  Latinized  name  of  Thomas  Brevior,  Mr.  Thomas  Shorter,  of  London, 
a  man  of  most  unimpeachable  integrity,  and  of  rare  ability,  has  contributed  to  the 
literature  of  Spiritualism  some  of  the  most  valuable  writings  with  which  it  has  been 
enriched. 


MK.     11OMKS     Flit  K— TEST.  f)(^ 

coal,  A ;   it  is  a  burning  coal;  feel  the  heat  of  his  hand.     A 

burning  coal  will  not  hurt  Daniel!  —  have  faith!'  I  closely 
examined  his  hand,  and  by  the  light  of  the  glowing  coal  I  could 
trace  every  line  in  the  palm  of  the  hand.  The  skin  was  not,  as 
will  be  surmised,  covered  by  a  glove,  or  steeped  in  a  solution 
of  alum  :  it  was  as  clean  as  soap  and  water  could  make  it.  Mr. 
Home  now  explained  that  spiritual  beings  had  the  power  of 
abstracting  heat  as  a  distinctive  element;  and  to  prove  this  he 
said,  now  mark  :  — 

t; '  We  will  cool  it  now,  —  draw  out  the  heat.'  My  doubts  were 
by  this  time  thoroughly  aroused  :  I  closely  watched  the  process. 
On  laying  hold  of  the  coal,  which  had  become  black,  I  found  it 
to  be  comparatively  cooled ;  and,  taking  it  from  his  hand,  I  ex 
amined  it  carefully  ;  so  also  the  skin  of  his  hand.  At  his  request, 
I  returned  the  coal  into  the  palm  of  his  hand ;  almost  instanta 
neously,  the  heat  returned ;  not  to  incandescence,  only  the 
caloric.  On  applying  my  hand  to  the  coal,  I  burnt  myself,  and 
took  conviction  at  the  cost  of  a  slight  injury.  I  cannot  say  I 
doubted  any  more.  The  scrutiny  I  had  submitted  the  hand 
of  Mr.  Home  to  precluded  this ;  but,  desirous  of  making  cer 
tain  of  the  fact  of  an  unprotected  surface  of  the  hand  of  the 
medium  being  '  fire-proof,'  I  took  Mr.  Home's  hand,  rubbed  it, 
moistened  it;  not  a  trace  of  any  foreign  matter,  and,  strange 
enough,  no  smell  of  smoke,  or  the  burnt  smell  of  fire  observa 
ble.  Mr.  Home,  who  was  still  in  a  trance,  smiled  good-temper- 
edly  at  my  persevering  efforts  to  undo  my  own  conviction.  .  .  . 

••  On  another  evening,  Mr.  Home,  after  he  had  shown  us  some 
truly  remarkable  phenomena,  all  whilst  in  a  trance,  knelt  down 
before  the  hearth  :  deliberately  arranging  the  bed  of  burning 
coal  with  his  hands,  he  commenced  fanning  away  the  flames; 
then,  to  our  horror  and  amazement,  placed  his  face  and  head  in 
the  flames,  which  appeared  to  form  a  bed,  upon  which  his  face 
rested.  I  narrowly  watched  the  phenomenon,  and  could  see  the 
flames  touch  his  hair.  On  withdrawing  his  face  from  the  flames, 
/  at  once  examined  his  hair ;  not  a  fibre  burnt  or  scorched,  —  un 
scathed  he  came  out  from  the  fire-test,  a  true  medium. 


ICO  PLANCHETTE. 

••  I  am  aware  that  great  incredulity  will  reward  my  narrative. 
I  give  what  I  have  seen,  as  a  fact,  refraining  from  explanation. 

"That  the  fire-test  has  played  its  part  in  the  records  of  every 
race  of  people,  the  veriest  tyro  in  history  knows.  Fire-test  was 
the  crucial  test  of  religious  fanatics,  whose  unreasoning  ortho 
doxy  sought  strength  by  imitating  the  wondrous  phenomenon  I 
have  just  been  recording." 

Thus,  then,  the  credibility  of  the  narratives  from  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  is  confirmed  by,  and  they  in  turn  confirm,  the  similar 
narratives  which  we  find  in  various  countries  and  centuries,  even 
to  our  own.  Their  range  is  too  extensive,  many  of  them  are  too 
circumstantial  and  well  attested,  the  testimony  to  the  facts  is 
too  clear,  too  independent  and  concurrent,  to  permit  us  to  assign 
them  wholly  to  imposture.  Make  what  large  and  liberal  abate 
ment  you  will  for  fraud  on  the  one  hand,  and  credulity  on  the 
other,  you  cannot  altogether  dispose  of  the  question  in  that 
way;  and  any  attempt  to  do  so  can  only  be  fitly  characterized 
as  itself  an  experiment  on  the  credulity  of  mankind. 

Another  extraordinary  experience,  of  which  Mr.  Home  has 
been  the  subject,  is  the  elongation  and  shortening  of  his  body. 
This  was  a  phenomenon  not  unknown  to  the  ancients,  and  to 
inquirers  into  the  facts  of  witchcraft.  Jamblichus,  who  flour 
ished  in  the  fourth  century  after  Christ,  writes,  "  The  signs  of 
those  that  are  inspired  are  multiform.  Sometimes  there  are 
pleasing  harmonies,  &c.  .  .  .  Again,  the  body  is  seen  to  be 
taller  or  larger,  or  is  elevated,  or  borne  aloft  through  the  air; 
or  the  contraries  of  these  are  seen  to  take  place  about  it." 

Mr.  H.  D.  Jencken,  of  Norwood,  England,  communicates, 
under  date  of  December,  1867,  his  experiences  at  four  seances,  at 
which  the  body  of  Mr.  D.  D.  Home  was  elongated  and  short 
ened  ;  and  on  all  these  occasions  Mr.  J.  used  his  utmost  en 
deavor  to  make  certain  of  the  fact.  On  two  of  them,  he  had  the 
amplest  opportunity  of  examining  Mr.  Home,  and  measuring 
the  actual  elongation  and  shortening.  At  one,  the  extension 
appeared  to  take  place  from  the  waist ;  and  the  clothing  separated 
eight  to  ten  inches.  Mr.  J..  who  is  six  feet,  hardly  reached  up 


WHY    ARE    WE    NOT    ALL    MEDIUMS?  IOI 

to  Mr.  Home's  shoulder.  Walking  to  and  fro,  Mr.  Home  es 
pecially  called  attention  to  the  fact  of  his  feet  being  firmly 
planted  on  the  ground. 

"He  then,"  says  Mr.  J.,  "grew  shorter  and  shorter,  until  he 
only  reached  my  shoulder,  his  waistcoat  overlapping  to  his  hip. 
.  .  .  Encouraging  every  mode  of  testing  the  truth  of  this  mar 
vellous  phenomenon,  Mr.  Home  made  me  hold  his  feet,  whilst 

the  Hon.  Mr. placed  his  hands  o/i  his  head  and  shoulders. 

The  elongation  was  repeated  three  times.  Twice,  whilst  he  was 
standing,  the  extension,  measured  on  the  wall  by  the  Hon. 

Mr.   ,    showed    eight   inches;    the   extension    at   the  waist, 

as  measured  by  Mr. ,  was  six  inches ;    and   the  third  time 

the  elongation   occurred,  Mr.  Home  was  seated  next  to  Mrs. 

,  who,  placing  her  hand  on  his  head,  and  her  feet  on  his 

feet,  had  the  utmost  difficulty  in  keeping  her  position,  as  Mr. 
Home's  body  grew  higher  and  higher;  the  extreme  extension 
reached  being  six  inches." 

"I  could  name  many,"  writes  the  well-known  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall, 
"who  have  been  lifted  out  of  the  slough  of  materialism  by,  in 
the  first  instance,  seeing  the  marvellous  manifestations  that 
arise  from  Mr.  Home's  mediumship."  And  she  adds,  "  Medium- 
ship  is  a  mystery  we  cannot  fathom,  nor  understand  why  the 
power  should  be  delegated  to  one  more  than  to  another." 

But  it  is  equally  perplexing  why  other  gifts  should  be  dele 
gated  to  one  person  and  not  to  another;  why  Mozart  should  be 
a  consummate  musician  at  five  years  of  age,  and  another  person 
should  not,  at  fifty,  be  able  to  tell  one  tune  from  another ;  why 
an  idiot  boy  should  possess  an  astonishing  power  of  computa 
tion,  and  another  person,  well-endowed  in  most  respects,  should 
not  be  able  to  do  in  a  week  what  the  other  will  do  in  a  few 
seconds. 

A  certain  "  secularist"  denies  all  authority  to  instinct  in  sup 
plying  hopes  of  a  future  life,  inasmuch  as  he  does  not  happen  to 
be  conscious  of  the  existence  in  himself  of  that  instinct  which 
others  undoubtedly  have  in  a.  strong  degree.  But  it  is  just  as 
irrational  for  a  man  to  deny  immortality  to  others,  because  he 


IO2  PLANCHETTE. 

himself  may  be  unconscious  of  those  transcendent  faculties 
which  are  developed  in  mediums,  as  it  would  be  for  him  to 
deny,  because  of  his  own  deficiencies  as  a  mathematician  or  a 
musician,  the  possibility  of  the  existence  of  such  mortals  as 
Newton  and  Beethoven.  • 

"  Why  has  not  Providence  made  the  possession  of  all  good 
things  universal  and  imexceptional  f  "  it  may  be  asked.  In  other 
words,  Why  has  not  God  made  all  intelligences  perfect  like 
himself?  Why  does  he  permit  any  existence  but  his  own  ?  The 
advocate  of  the  theory  of  pre-existence  says  we  bring  our  facul 
ties  from  our  anterior  states ;  so  that  what  we  make  our  own 
we  keep. 

It  is  inscrutable,  and  seems  unjust,  that  Providence  should 
give  my  neighbor  a  faculty,  and  deny  it  to  me ;  especially  when 
I  greatly  desire  and  covet  it.  We  cannot  explain  why  Provi 
dence  should  be  so  partial ;  but  let  us  not,  on  that  account,  deny 
the  fact.  Because  Swedenborg,  or  the  Seeress  of  Prevorst,  or 
Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  or  Daniel  Home,  or  Emma  Hardinge 
may  see  a  spirit,  and  we  may  not,  let  us  not  jump  to  the  conclu 
sion  that  they  are  either  dupes  or  liars ;  especially  when  they 
prove  to  us,  as  they  do,  that  they  possess  powers  of  prevision,  or 
clairvoyance,  which  we  do  not  possess  (at  least  in  our  normal 
state),  and  which  are  such  as  we  ascribe  only  to  spirits. 

There  may  be  a  faculty  for  apprehending  spiritual  truths,  and 
for  comihunicating  with  spiritual  beings,  just  as  there  is  for 
grasping  the  fundamental  principles  of  mathematical  or  musical 
science.  Where  the  faculty  is  deficient,  let  us  beware  how  we 
deny  the  rightfulness  of  its  existence  in  others, — pronouncing 
it  a  mere  excrescence  upon  the  human  soul,  to  be  removed  by 
the  surgery  of  those  "secular"  doctors,  who  think  to  cure  the 
great  heart  of  humanity  of  the  hope  of  rejoining  the  loved  ones 
gone  before. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   SALEM   PHENOMENA  OF   1692  AND    1868. 

"  When  a  man  is  so  fugitive  and  unsettled,  that  he  will  not  stand  to  the  verdict  of 
his  own  faculties,  one  can  no  more  fasten  any  thing  upon  him  than  he  can  write  in  the 
water,  or  tie  knots  of  the  wind."  — Henry  More. 

AN  elaborate  work  on  Salem  Witchcraft,  from  the  pen  of  the 
Rev.  Charles  W.  Upham,  an  esteemed  Unitarian  clergy 
man,  was  published  in  Boston,  U.S.,  in  1867.  Of  it  the  "  Edin 
burgh  Review"  (July,  1868)  remarks,  "No  more  accurate  piece 
of  history  has  ever  been  written." 

Accurate  in  its  facts  it  maybe,  and  yet  of  questionable  accuracy 
in  the  construction  it  puts  on  them. 

If  there  is  any  thing  in  human  history  that  is  established  by 
human  testimony,  it  is  the  occurrence,  in  all  the  ages  of  which 
we  have  any  authentic  record,  of  phenomena,  still  familiar  to 
multitudes,  but  which  are  now  denied  by  a  large  class  of  minds ; 
not  because  the  phenomena  are  not  vouched  for  by  abundant 
testimony,  but  because  they  do  not  happen  to  accord  with  indi 
vidual  notions  of  the  possible  or  the  actual. 

Sir  William  Blackstone  did  not  depart  from  this  world  till  four 
years  after  the  declaration  of  American  Independence.  He  was 
the  contemporary  of  our  immediate  ancestors.  His  "  Commen 
taries  on  Law  and  Testimony  "  are  still  so  highly  esteemed,  that 
they  have  not  to  this  day  been  superseded  as  the  first  work 
proper  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  law  student.  Few  men 
better  qualified  to  weigh  and  scrutinize  testimony,  at  once  in  a 
practical  and  philosophical  spirit,  have  ever  lived ;  and,  on  the 
subject  of  Witchcraft,  Blackstone  remarks,  in  the  fourth  book  of 


IO4  PJ.ANCHKTTE. 

his  Commentaries,  "To  deny  the  possibility,  nay,  actual  exist 
ence  of  witchcraft  and  sorcery,  is  at  once  flatly  to  contradict  the 
revealed  Word  of  God  in  various  passages  of  both  the  Old  and 
New  Testament;  and  the  thing  itself  is  a  truth  to  which  every 
nation  in  the  world  hath  borne  testimony,  either  by  example*, 
seemingly  -well  attested,  or  by  prohibitory  laws,  which,  at  least, 
suppose  the  possibility  of  commerce  with  evil  spirits." 

Mr.  Lecky,  in  his  "History  of  Rationalism"  (1864),  shows 
that  the  testimony  establishing  the  facts  of  witchcraft  is  of  the 
most  irresistible  character.  The  accumulations  of  evidence  are 
such  as  to  amaze  the  skeptical  student.  "The  wisest  men  in 
Europe  shared  in  the  belief  of  these  facts ;  the  ablest  defended  it ; 
the  best  were  zealous  foes  of  all  who  assailed  it.  For  hundreds 
of  years  no  man  of  any  account  rejected  it.  Lord  Bacon  could 
not  divest  himself  of  it.  Shakespeare  accepted  it,  as  did  the 
most  enlightened  of  his  contemporaries.  Sir  Thomas  Browne 
declared  that  those  who  denied  the  existence  of  witchcraft  were 
not  only  infidels,  but  also,  by  implication,  atheists." 

The  phenomena  of  witchcraft  were  real  enough  for  the  author 
ities  in  England  and  Scotland  to  burn  the  supposed  witches  by 
thousands;  for  Geneva  (1515)  to  burn  five  hundred  in  three 
months  ;  for  the  diocese  of  Como  in  Italy  to  slaughter  one  thou 
sand  ;  for  a  single  diocese  in  France  to  destroy  more  than  could 
be  reckoned ;  for  the  little  town  of  Salem  in  Massachusetts  to 
put  to  death  some  of  its  best  men  and  women. 

All  at  once  a  re-action  in  public  opinion  took  place,  and  the 
belief  in  witchcraft  declined.  From  one  extreme  men  went  to 
the  other.  The  re-action  was  at  first  not  so  much  against  the 
facts  as  against  the  fanatical  construction  put  upon  them;  but 
the  general  discredit  soon  involved  both.  An  unfavorable  public 
opinion  undoubtedly  checked  the  development  of  mediums  for 
the  phenomena.  Grief  and  indignation  succeeded  the  wild  cre 
dulity  that  had  made  innocent  parties  responsible  for  acts,  the 
interpretation  of  which  was  to  be  found  in  a  purely  scientific 
study  of  the  matter,  free  from  all  religious  prepossession. 

The  marvels  of  witchcraft,  as  they  were  developed  in  Salem, 


PHENOMENA    OF    WITCHCRAFT.  105 

and  are  recorded  by  Upham,  were  of  the  same  class  with  those 
phenomena  which  the  present  writer  and  thousands  of  other 
persons  have  witnessed,  during  the  last  thirty  years,  in  cases  of 
somnambulism,  whether  induced  by  mesmerism  or  independent 
of  that  influence,  and,  in  the  more  recent  manifestations,  through 
persons  called  mediums.  In  the  Salem  phenomena  there  were 
violent  convulsions  of  the  bodies  of  those  afflicted,  especially 
when  the  supposed  witch  was  near.  There  were  surprising  and 
apparently  superhuman  exhibitions  of  muscular  strength.  Vio 
lent  motions  in  objects  around,  as  if  attracted  and  impelled  by 
some  mysterious  force,  were  witnessed.  A  staff,  an  iron  hook, 
shoes,  keys,  and  even  a  chest,  were  seen  to  move,  as  if  tossed  by 
an  invisible  hand.  A  bed,  on  which  a  sufferer  lay,  shook  most 
violently,  even  when  several  persons  were  seated  on  it.  Stones 
were  hurled  against  houses  and  persons  :  articles  of  iron,  pewter, 
and  brass  were  tossed  about,  a  candlestick  being  thrown  down, 
a  spit  flying  up  chimney,  and  a  pressing-iron,  a  stirrup,  and 
even  a  small  anchor,  being  moved;  of  which  facts  many  persons 
were  eye-witnesses. 

Mysterious  raspings  were  also  heard.  Audible  scratchings 
on  the  bedstead  of  a  person  affected  were  made.  A  drumming 
on  the  boards  was  heard;  and  a  voice  seemed  to  say,  "We 
knock  no  more !  we  knock  no  more !  "  A  frying-pan  rang  so 
loud  that  the  people  at  a  hundred  yards'  distance  heard  it. 
Sounds  as  of  steps  on  the  chamber-floor  were  heard.  Divers 
noises  as  of  the  clattering  of  chairs  and  stools  were  heard  in  an 
adjoining  room.  Very  varied  are  these  instances. 

Wonderful  powers  of  thought  and  grace  of  expression  were 
exhibited  by  the  most  ignorant  and  uneducated,  and  by  persons 
of  ordinary,  and  even  of  small,  mental  capacity.  Of  one  person 
it  is  recorded,  "  He  had  a  speech  incessant  and  voluble,  and,  as 
was  judged,  in  various  languages."  Of  a  little  girl  it  is  men 
tioned,  "  She  argued  concerning  death,  with  paraphrases  on  the 
thirty-first  Psalm,  in  strains  that  quite  amazed  us." 

Cases  of  mysterious  knowledge,  like  those  now  called  clairvoy 
ance,  are  reported,  even  by  the  coolest  witnesses.  Brattle  men- 


106  PLANCHETTE. 

tions  that  "  several  persons  were  accused  by  the  afflicted  whom 
the  afflicted  never  had  known."  Little  girls  thus  affected  de 
scribed,  as  their  tormentors,  persons  they  had  never  seen  ;  and  by 
these  descriptions  the  parents  or  friends  of  the  girls  sought  out 
the  accused,  even  in  remote  places. 

Perhaps  the  most  consistent  explanation  of  this  implication  of 
innocent  persons,  by  the  children,  and  others  who  were  the 
mediums  on  the  occasion,  is,  that  they  were  under  thg  control  of 
mischievous  and  malignant  spirits,  who  found  their  pleasure  in 
fixing  suspicion  on  the  wrong  parties. 

If  we  may  believe  Swedenborg,  spirits  are  very  human  in  their 
weaknesses.  In  his  spiritual  diary,  he  says,  ;"  When  spirits 
begin  to  speak  with  man,  he  must  beware,  lest  he  believe  them 
in  any  thing ;  for  they  say  almost  any  thing.  Things  are  fabri 
cated  by  them,  and  they  lie.  ...  If  man  then  listens  and  be 
lieves,  they  press  on,  and  deceive  and  seduce  in  divers  ways." 

Of  one  of  the  little  daughters  of  John  Goodwin,  of  Boston, 
Mather  says,  "  Perceiving  that  her  troublers  understood  Latin, 
some  trials  were  thereupon  made  whether  they  understood 
Greek  and  Hebrew,  which,  it  seems,  they  also  did ;  but  the 
Indian  languages  they  did  not  seem  so  well  to  understand." 

We  have  repeatedly  known  a  medium  to  be  lifted  in  her  chair 
from  the  floor  on  to  a  table,  where  there  was  no  means  of  its 
being  done  by  any  known  human  agency,  or  mechanical  con 
trivance.  How  like  is  this  to  the  testimony  of  respectable  citi 
zens  of  Boston  in  1693,  in  the  case  of  Margaret  Rule!  "I  do 
testify,"  says  Samuel  Aves,  "that  I  have  seen  Margaret  Rule 
lifted  up  from  her  bed,  wholly  by  an  invisible  force,  a  great 
way  towards  the  top  of  the  room  where  she  lay."  "  We  can 
also  testify  to  the  substance  of  what  is  above  written,"  say  Robert 
Earle,  John  Wilkins,  and  Daniel  Williams.  "  We  do  testify  "- 
to  a  precisely  similar  occurrence,  say  Thomas  Thornton  and 
William  Hudson.* 

"  We  have  in  history,"  says  Calmet,  "  several  instances  of 
persons  full  of  religion  and  piety,  who,  in  the  fervor  of  their 

*  See  Calefs  "  More  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,"  p.  75. 


LEVITATION.  lOj 

orisons,  have  been  taken  up  into  the  air,  and  have  remained 
there  for  some  time.  We  have  known  a  good  monk,  who  rises 
sometimes  from  the  ground,  and  remains  suspended,  without 
wishing  it.  I  know  a  nun  to  whom  it  has  happened,  in  spite  of 
herself,  to  be  thus  raised  up." 

He  mentions  the  same  thing  as  occurring  to  St.  Philip  of  Neri, 
St.  Catherine  Colembina,  and  to  Loyola,  who  was  ';  raised  up 
from  the  ground  to  the  height  of  two  feet,  while  his  body  shone 
like  light." 

Savonarola,  before  his  tragical  death  at  the  stake,  and  while 
absorbed  in  devotion,  was  seen  to  remain  suspended  at  a  con 
siderable  height  from  the  floor  of  his  dungeon.  "  The  historical 
evidence  of  this  fact,"  says  Elihu  Rich,  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
Metropolitana,"  "  is  admitted  by  his  recent  biographer." 

Indeed,  the  authentic  instances  of  this  phenomenon  are  far  too 
numerous  to  mention. 

Of  certain  children  supposed  to  be  bewitched,  Mr.  Upham 
writes,  "The  convulsions  and  paroxysms  of  these  girls;  their 
eyes  remaining  fixed,  bereft  of  all  light  and  expression ;  their 
screams,  the  sounds  of  the  motions  and  voices  of  the  invisible 
beings  they  heard;  their  becoming  pallid  before  apparitions,  of 
course  seen  only  by  themselves,  &c.,  — were  the  result  of  trickery, 
was  nothing  but  acting,  but  such  perfect  acting  as  to  make  all 
who  witnessed  their  doings  to  believe  it  to  be  real.  They  would 
address  and  hold  colloquy  with  spectres  and  ghosts ;  and  the 
responses  of  the  unseen  beings  would  be  audible  to  the  fancy  of 
the  bewildered  crowd.  .  .  .  But  none  could  discover  any 
imposture  in  the  girls,  .  .  .  who  had  by  long  practice  become 
wonderful  adepts  in  the  art  of  jugglery  and  probably  of  ventril 
oquism." 

According  to  Mr.  Upham,  the  witchcraft  which  manifested 
itself  in  Salem,  in  1692,  was  attributable  "to  childish  sportive- 
ness;  to  the  mischievous  proceedings  of  the  children  in  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Parris's  family  " ! 

There  is  an  incredulity  which  it  requires  a  good  deal  of  cre 
dulity  to  arrive  at  in  the  face  of  notorious  facts.  Even  the 


IOS  PLANCHKTTE. 

"  Edinburgh  Review  "  —  eulogistic  as  it  is,  and,  for  the  most  part, 
justly,  of  Mr.  Upham  —  rebukes  him  for  confining  his  view, 
almost  exclusively,  to  the  theory  of  fraud  and  falsehood,  as 
affording  the  true  key  in  dealing  with  these  phenomena. 

"  Mr.  Upham,"  says  the  reviewer,  "  is  evidently  very  far  indeed 
from  understanding  or  suspecting  how  much  light  is  thrown  on 
the  darkest  part  of  his  subject,  by  physiological  researches  car 
ried  on  to  the  hour  when  he  laid  down  his  pen.  ...  In  another 
generation,  the  science  of  the  human  frame  may  have  advanced 
far  enough  to  elucidate  some  of  the  Salem  mysteries,  together 
with  some  obscure  facts  in  all  countries,  which  cannot  be  denied, 
while  as  yet  they  cannot  be  understood." 

So  far  so  good.  But  the  reviewer,  while  reluctantly  admitting 
facts  that  Spiritualism  has  forced  upon  the  attention  of  the 
world,  cannot  avoid  going  out  of  his  way  to  speak  an  ill  word 
of  those  who  have  adopted  the  spiritual  hypothesis,  and  to 
bring  against  them  the  charge  of  making  several  thousand  luna 
tics  for  our  asylums ;  a  charge  which  the  statistics  of  those  asy 
lums  have  repeatedly  disproved,  and  which,  if  it  were  true, 
would  be  no  argument  against  the  prosecution  of  truth,  any 
more  than  the  fact  that  many  thousands  become  insane  from 
religious  excitement  would  be  an  argument  against  religion. 

Dr.  Maudsley,  a  writer  quoted  with  approval  by  the  reviewer, 
shows  the  absurdity  of  thus  charging  a  morbid  tendency  of  the 
brain,  ending  in  insanity,  upon  the  mere  topic,  toward  which 
the  mind  may  have  directed  itself  at  a  certain  time.  This 
"  topic"  may  be  denounced  by  shallow  observers  as  the  exciting 
cause ;  but  a  deeper  diagnosis  will  prove  that  the  true  cause  lay 
in  the  cerebral  cells. 

The  reviewer  calls  the  Spiritualists  "a  company  of  fanatics, 
.  .  .  who  can  form  no  conception  of  the  modesty  and  patience 
requisite  for  the  sincere  search  for  truth,  .  .  .  who  wander  in  a 
fool's  paradise,"  .  .  .  and  who  are  "partly  answerable  for  the 
backwardness  "  of  conservative  men  of  science. 

"Who  excuses  accuses,"  says  the  proverb;  and  the  reviewer's 
apology  for  the  men  of  science  will  be  accepted  only  by  simple- 


FRIGIITKNED    BY    AX    HYPOTHESIS.  109 

tons.  Here  for  twenty  years  have  the  Spiritualists  been  pro 
claiming  certain  facts  and  phenomena,  which  they  have  called 
upon  the  savans  to  investigate.  The  hypothesis  as  to  the  origin 
of  these  facts,  whether  mundane  or  ultra-mundane,  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  facts  themselves.  A  man  who  sees  Mr.  Home 
lifted  to  the  ceiling  may  believe  it  was  done  by  a  spirit,  or  by 
a  latent  force  in  the  individual  himself,  or  in  the  surrounding 
spectators.  All  that  Spiritualists  have  said  -has  been,  "  Come 
and  see  the  fact,  and  explain  it  then  as  you  please.  But  do  not 
denounce  us  as  dupes  and  fanatics  for  believing  the  testimony 
of  our  senses.  Do  not  expect  us  to  be  laughed  out  of  the  ver 
dict  of  our  own  faculties,  as  poor  SirJDavid  Brewster  was,  after 
seeing  the  table  move." 

This,  it  is  well  known,  has  been  the  position  of  all  intelligent 
Spiritualists ;  there  being  many,  so-called,  who  believe  simply 
in  the  facts,  without  attempting  to  explain  them.  And  now  the 
"Edinburgh  Review,"  seeing  that  the  time  is  coming  when  it 
must  prepare  for  a  change  of  base  in  regard  to  these  facts  (as  it 
has  done  in  regard  to  mesmerism),  charges  it  upon  the  so-called 
Spiritualists,  that  by  their  hypothesis  they  have  frightened  off 
investigation  !  Bold  investigators  they  must  be  who  can  be  ter 
rified  by  an  hypothesis. 

The  late  Dr.  William  T.  G.  Morton,  when  he  was  told  that  sul 
phuric  ether  would  produce  insensibility  to  pain,  went  on  fear 
lessly  and  tested  the  fact,  and  became  'a  great  discoverer.  As 
the  "Edinburgh  Review"  would  have  said  of  him,  "He  could 
form  no  conception  of  the  modesty  and  patience  requisite  for  the 
sincere  search  for  truth." 

When  Kate  Fox  heard  the  raps,  she  said,  "Do  as  I  do,"  and 
found  that  they  were  regulated  by  intelligence.  She,  too,  could 
form  no  conception  of  this  vaunted  "modesty  and  patience." 
She  imagined  an  hypothesis:  she  tried  it;  and  the  result  was 
the  production  of  the  phenomenon. 

Subsequent  investigators  into  the  phenomena  have  followed 
her  example.  They  have  interrogated  the  invisible  power,  what 
ever  it  may  be,  producing  the  manifestations;  and,  by  adopting 


IIO  PLANCIIKTTH. 

the  hypothesis  that  it  was  intelligent,  and  could  answer  ques 
tions,  they  have  found  that  it  could  do  so  ;  and  they  have  arrived 
at  great  results,  just  as  other  discoverers  have,  by  simply  leaning 
on  an  hypothesis. 

And  so  when  this  learned  reviewer  charges  Spiritualism  with 
"deluding  and  disporting  itself  with  a  false  hypothesis  about 
certain  mysteries  of  the  human  mind,"  he  merely  utters  words 
of  resentment  that  have  n'o  philosophical  significance.  He 
might  as  well  abuse  Columbus  for  finding  America  through 
the  false  hypothesis  of  its  being  the  eastern  end  of  Asia.  If  an 
hj-pothesis  is  adequate  to  the  desired  result,  what  absurdity  to 
denounce  a  man  for  using  it  as  a  temporary  scaffolding  on  which 
to  mount ! 

"Hypotheses,"  says  Novalis,  "are  nets:  only  he  who  throws 
them  out  will  catch  any  thing." 

But  for  the  earnestness  of  investigators,  a  large  class  of  facts, 
discovered,  or,  rather,  rediscovered,  by  Spiritualism,  would 
have  been  relegated  to  the  oblivion  where  they  have  lain  for 
ages.  To  this  day,  it  has  been  a  constant  warfare  on  the  part 
of  Spiritualists,  to  establish  these  facts.  Men  of  science  and  of 
learning,  with  here  and  there  an  exception,  have  done  all  they 
could  to  discredit  and  crush  them  out. 

And  now,  when  the  facts  number  their  believers  by  millions, 
and  it  begins  to  be  impossible  to  ignore  them  longer,  the 
"Edinburgh  Review"  —  while  it  timidly  admits  some  of  the 
least  remarkable  of  them  —  would  blacken  with  its  harmless 
ink  the  fair  fame  of  the  men  through  whose  intrepidity,  fidelity 
to  truth,  and  impenetrability  to  precisely  such  sneers  as  the 
reviewer's,  those  pregnant  facts  have  become  the  property  of 
science  once  more. 

And  he  stigmatizes  these  men  as  "  fanatics  " !  Is  he  aware  in 
what  company  the  fanatics  now  find  themselves  ?  Not  to  mention 
those  eminent  men  of  the  last  generation,  —  such  as  Lavater,  the 
physiognomist;  Schubert,  the  philosopher;  Goethe,  Zschokke, 
Gorres,  Oberlin,  Von  Meyer,  Ennemoser,  Kerner,  and  many 
others,  who  were  Spiritualists  before  the  phenomena  of  1848, — 


CIIAKJJ-.S    H.    FOSTER.  Ill 

we  need  but  refer  to  the  late  Archbishop  Whately,  the  late  Lord 
Lyndhurst,  the  late  Mr.  Senior,  the  late  Mr.  Thackeray,  the  late 
Mrs.  Browning,  and  other  distinguished  persons,  by  whom  these 
phenomena  were  accepted  as  spiritual.  Cardinal  Wiseman  ad 
mits  them.  So  do  Professor  De  Morgan,  Mr.  Robert  Chambers  ; 
Bishop  Clark,  of  Rhode  Island;  Mr.  Varley,  the  electrician;  the 
eloquent  Jules  Favre,  a  member  of  the  French  Academy ;  Gari 
baldi,  Mazzini,  and  hundreds  of  eminent  men,  towards  whom  for 
this  reviewer  to  affect  contempt,  would  be  simply  ridiculous.  . 

But  it  is  only  a  short  distance  in  the  admission  of  facts  that 
he  has  as  yet  gone.  When,  by  and  by,  he  is  compelled  to  go 
further,  and  to  accept  the  most  surprising  of  the  phenomena 
recorded  in  this  volume,  and  to  abandon  his  complacent  theory 
that  the  marvels  which  Spiritualists  proclaim  are  merely  the 
chimera  of  "  an  objective  world  of  their  own  subjective  experi 
ence."  he  will,  we  hope,  be  a  little  more  cautious  in  his  sneers  at 
men  who,  if  they  had  heeded  such  ridicule  as  his,  would  long 
since  have  been  checked  in  the  investigation  of  facts,  so  repug 
nant  to  the  preconceived  notions  of  quarterly  reviewers. 

We  refer  to  Mr.  Upham's  book,  simply  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact,  that  in  his  own  town  of  Salem,  at  the  very  time  he  was 
writing  a  history  of  witchcraft,  in  which  he  sets  down  as  delu.- 
sions  and  tricks  certain  phenomena  that  were  established  as 
true  in  the  minds  of  judges,  juries,  clergymen,  and  magistrates, 
by  the  overwhelming  amount  of  evidence  that  was  adduced, 
there  lived  (1865-68),  hardly  a  stone's  throw  from  his  own 
house,  a  young  man  of  the  name  of  Charles  H.  Foster,  born 
in  Salem,  1838,  through  whom  similar  phenomena,  quite  as 
remarkable  as  any  in  the  annals  of  witchcraft,  might  have  been 
witnessed  and  fairly  tested.  Mr.  Upham  must  have  known  of 
him  by  reputation ;  for  Mr.  Foster  was  and  is  widely  celebrated, 
both  in  America  and  England,  for  his  marvellous  displays  of  a 
knowledge  such  as  we  call  spiritual,  inasmuch  as  it  far  tran 
scends  all  that  we  can  conceive  of  in  our  normal  state  of  con 
sciousness,  as  accessible  to  our  bodily  senses. 

When    Justinus    Kerner    was    investigating    (1826).    through 


112  PLANCHETTE. 

Madame  Hauffe  (the  Seeress  of  Prevorst),  phenomena  belong 
ing  to  the  same  group  with  those  of  modern  Spiritualism,  the 
critics  and  reviewers,  he  tells  us,  instead  of  coming  to  see  the 
facts  for  themselves,  as  they  were  invited,  all  rushed  home, 
mounted  their  high  stools,  and  began  to  write  against  the  phe 
nomena  and  everybody  connected  with  them. 

So  has  it  been  with  Spiritualism ;  and  now  it  looks  as  if  the 
reviewers  could  never  forgive  the  despised  "  fanatics  "  for  get 
ting  hold  of  facts  in  advance  of  them,  and  making  them  commit 
themselves  against  them. 

Of  our  own  experiences  with  Mr.  Foster,  we  will  record  only 
one  class ;  but  with  this  we  have  repeatedly  been  made  familiar, 
both  at  his  rooms  and  our  own  house.  We  have  reason  to 
believe  that  there  are  several  thousand  persons  at  this  time,  in 
America  and  England,  who  could  confirm  our  experience  by 
their  own  with  the  same  medium. 

Some  time  in  1861,  seeing  Mr.  Foster's  advertisement  in  the 
newspapers,  we  called  on  him  at  his  temporary  boarding-place, 
near  the  United-States  Hotel  in  Boston.  We  had  intimated  our 
purpose  to  no  one,  either  at  the  moment  or  previously.  We  had 
been  asked  by  no  one  to  attend.  We  had  never  seen  Mr.  Foster. 
He  had  never  seen  us,  as  he  said  and  as  we  believe.  We  sought 
him  simply  in  his  capacity  of  a  professional  medium  to  test  his 
powers. 

He  was  alone  in  a  small  room,  and  we  two  remained  alone 
during  the  sitting.  The  room  was  about  15  by  15,  with  two 
windows  looking  on  the  area  back  of  the  house.  The  curtains 
were  up.  It  was  noonday.  There  was  no  possibility  of  decep 
tion. 

At  his  request,  we  wrote  twelve  names  of  departed  friends  on 
twelve  scraps  of  paper,  and  rolled  the  scraps  into  pellets.  We 
were  at  liberty  to  use  our  own  paper,  or  to  tear  from  what  was 
lying  on  the  table.  Mr.  Foster  walked  away  from  us  while  we 
wrote ;  and  we  were  careful  that  he  should  not  see  even  the 
motion  of  our  hand. 

The  paper  we  used  was  fine  as  tissue  paper.  We  folded,  and  then 


PROOFS    OF    CLAIRVOYANCE.  113 

rolled  up  each  piece  separately,  and  pressed  it  till  it  was  hardly 
larger  than  a  common  grape-stone.  We  placed  the  pellets  on 
the  uncovered  mahogany  of  the  table,  and  mixed  them  up.  Mr. 
Foster  ran  his  fingers  rapidly  over  them,  without  taking  up  any 
one  of  them.  Then,  almost  instantly,  he  pushed  one  after  the 
other  towards  us,  and,  as  he  did  so,  gave  us,  without  pause  or 
hesitation7  name  after  name,  until  he  came  to  one  which  was 
a  name  so  unusual,  that  we  know  of  but  two  persons  alive 
at  this  moment  who  bear  it.  "The  name  of  this  person  will 
appear  on  my  arm,"  said  Mr.  Foster;  and,  rolling  up  his  sleeve, 
he  showed  us  the  name  Arria,  in  conspicuous  red  letters,  on  the 
skin  of  his  left  arm. 

He  had  given  the  names  on  eight  of  the  pellets  correctly  in 
their  order.  f^-9  *,, 

Having  had  enough  to  astonish  us  for  one  sitting,  we  did  not 
ask  him  to  do  more  that  day.  On  many  subsequent  occasions, 
similar  tests  of  power  were  given  to  us  by  Mr.  Foster. 

In  this  experiment  it  was  impossible  that  he  could  get  his 
knowledge  from  our  mind.  This  is  a  favorite  theory  of  the 
scoffers ;  but  it  will  not  apply  here.  We  knew,  it  is  true,  the 
names  that  were  on  the  pellets  ;  but  the  pellets  were  so  mixed  up 
that  we  could  not  have  told  which  was  which,  had  our  life  de 
pended  on  it.  We  might  have  guessed  right  once;  but  to  do  it 
eight  times  in  succession  was  hardly  in  the  range  of  possibil 
ity. 

Where  did  Mr.  Foster  get  the  faculty  of  telling  us  what  was 
Written  on  each  of  those  pellets  ? 

In  a  pellet  on  which  we  had  written  the  name  of  George  Bush, 
we  had  added,  as  a  further  test  of  Mr.  Foster's  clairvoyance, 
these  words:  ''Are  these  things  truly  from  human  spirits  ?" 
Seizing  a  pencil,  Mr.  F.,  with  a  nervous  rapidity,  wrote  off  the 
following  reply  before  the  pellet  had  been  opened,  and  before  we 
knew  the  name  that  was  on  it:  "  These  communications  are 
truly  from  the  spirit-world.  And  is  it  not  a  glorious  thought 
thus  to  be  able  to  communicate  with  the  beloved  ones  who  have 
gone  to  the  far-off  spirit-land?"  This,  though  not  an  exact 

8 


114  PLANCHETTE. 

reply  to  the  inquiry,  was  near  enough  to  excite  astonishment. 
To  Rufus  Dawes,  we  wrote,  "  Old  friend,  what  shall  I  think 
of  it?"  The  reply  was,  "Think  it  is  all  right  now.  It  is  a 
boon  given  to  man  to  prove  to  him  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 
[Signed]  Rufus." 

The  replies  do  not  afford  any  satisfactory  evidence  of  spirit 
identity,  nor  were  the  questions  framed  with  that  view;  but 
what  explanation  can  we  give  of  the  faculty  that  could  read  in 
every  particular  pellet,  rolled  into  illegibility  as  it  was,  the 
name  and  the  question  ? 

The  venerable  John  Ashburner,  of  London,  editor  of  Reich- 
enbach's  "Dynamics  of  Magnetism,"  and  long  one  of  the  most 
successful  practising  physicians  in  England,  has  given  a  narra 
tive  of  his  experiences  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Foster.  As  many 
of  these  accord  with  our  own,  we  give  them  in  preference  to 
extracts  from  our  own  notes. 

"I  have  myself,"  says  Dr.  Ashburner,  "so  often  witnessed 
spiritual  manifestations  that  I  could  not,  if  I  were  inclined,  put 
aside  the  evidences  which  have  come  before  me.  When  Mr. 
Charles  Foster  was  in  London,  in  1863,  he  was  often  in  my 
house;  and  numerous  friends  had  opportunities  of  witnessing 
the  phenomena  which  occurred  in  his  presence.  .  .  .  The  second 
morning  that  he  called  on  me  was  about  two  weeks  after  his 
arrival  in  England.  Accidentally,  at  the  same  time  arrived  at 
my  door  Lady  C.  H.  and  her  aunt,  wife  of  the  Rev.  A.  E.  I 
urged  them  to  come  in,  and  placed  them  on  chairs  at  the  sides 
of  my  dining-table.  Their  names  had  not  been  mentioned;  Mr. 
Foster  having  retired  to  the  further  extremity  of  the  room,  so  as 
not  to  be  able  to  see  what  the  ladies  wrote.  I  induced  them  each 
to  write,  upon  separate  slips  of  paper,  six  names  of  friends  who 
had  departed  this  world.  These  they  folded  into  pellets,  which 
were  placed  together. 

"  Mr.  Foster,  coming  back  to  the  table,  immediately  picked  up 
a  pellet,  and  addressing  himself  to  Mrs.  A.  E.,  'Alice,'  he  said, 
which  made  the  lady  start,  and  ask  how  he  knew  her  name. 
He  replied,  'Your  cousin,  John  Whitney,  whose  name  you  wrote 


DR.  ASHBUKNER'S  TESTIMONY.  115 

on  that  little  piece  of  paper,  stands  by  your  side,  and  desires  me 
to  say,  that  he  often  watches  over  you,  and  reads  your  thoughts, 
which  are  always  pure  and  good.  He  is  delighted  at  the  tender 
ness  and  care  which  you  exhibit  in  the  education  of  your  chil 
dren.'  Then  he  turned  towards  me,  and  said,.  'Alice's  uncle  is 
smiling  benignantly,  as  he  is  looking  towards  you.  He  says, 
you  and  he  were  very  intimate  friends.'  I  said,  '  I  should  like 
to  know  the  name  of  my  friend ; '  and  Mr.  Foster  instantly  re 
plied  '  Gaven.  His  Christian  name  will  appear  on  my  right 
arm.' 

"  The  arm  was  bared;  and  there  appeared,  in  red  letters,  fully 
one  inch  and  a  quarter  long,  the  name  William  raised  on  the 
skin  of  his  arm.  Certainly,  William  Gaven  was  my  dear  old 
friend,  and  the  uncle  of  the  lady  whose  name  is  Alice.  How, 
without  yielding  to  the  truth  of  the  assertion  of  Mr.  Foster,  that 
he  was  a  discerner  of  spirits,  the  fact  could  be  known  to  a  com 
plete  stranger,  who  had  all  his  life  resided  in  America,  and  could 
know  nothing,  even  of  the  names  of  the  ladies  whom  I  had 
brought  into  my  dining-room  from  the  street-door,  where  I 
had  accosted  them,  their  names  not  having  been  known  to  my 
servants,  is  a  phenomenon  well  calculated  to  puzzle  the  intellect 
of  any  one  not  having  faith  in  Spiritualism.  Mr.  Foster's  arm 
retained,  on  the  surface  of  his  skin,  the  raised,  red  letters  for  fully 
five  minutes.  I  applied  a  powerful  magnifying  lens  over  them, 
and  my  two  young  friends  and  I  watched  them  until  they  sub 
sided  and  disappeared.  It  has  been  said  that  the  skin  was 
scratched  by  a  pointed  lead-pencil,  and  I  knew  some  persons 
who  wrote  on  their  arms,  and  succeeded  in  raising  red  letters ; 
but  the  letters  did  not  so  quickly  subside,  and  in  some  instances 
left  sore  scratches,  marks  or  tokens  of  the  want  of  common 
sense. 

"Mr.  Foster  next  addressed  himself  to  Lady  C.,  whom  he  had 
never  seen  before  in  his  life,  until  he  met  her  in  my  dining-room. 

'Your  mother,'  said  he,  'the  Marchioness  of ,  stands  by 

your  side,  and  desires  to  give  you  her  fond  blessing  and  very 
affectionate  love.'  He  added,  '  Lady  C.,  you  wrote  on  a  piece 


Il6  PLANCHETTE. 

of  paper  I  hold  here  the  name  of  Miss  Stuart.  She  stands  by 
the  side  of  your  mother,  and  is  beaming  with  delight  at  the 
sight  of  her  pupil.  She  was  your  governess,  and  was  much 
attached  to  you.'  He  added,  'That  charming  person,  the 
Marchioness,  was  a  great  friend  of  the  doctor's.  She  is  so 
pleased  to  find  you  all  here !  Her  Christian  name  is  to  appear 
on  my  arm.'  Mr.  Foster  drew  up  his  sleeve,  and  there  appeared 
in  raised,  red  letters,  on  the  skin,  the  name  Barbara,  which 
subsided  and  disappeared  gradually,  as  the  former  name  William 
had  done.  Here  were  cases  in  which  it  was  quite  impossible 
that  the  medium  could  have  known  any  single  fact  relating  to 
the  families  or  to  the  intimacies  of  any  of  the  persons  present. 
I  had  myself  formed  his  acquaintance  only  two  days,  and  the 
ladies  had  arrived  from  a  part  of  the  country  with  which  he 
could  not  possibly  be  acquainted.  It  may  be  inquired  very  fairly, 
how  it  is  proposed  to  connect  such  a  narrative  with  any  philo 
sophical  view  of  our  mental  functions?  One  need  be  at  no 
loss  for  a  reply ;  but  it  is  more  advisable  at  present  to  multiply 
our  facts. 

"My  father  was,  in  his  youth,  addicted  to  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge,  and  besides  physics  and  chemistry,  although  he 
never  proposed  to  become  a  professional  physician,  he  studied 
anatomy  at  the  Borough  Hospitals,  and  had  the  late  Mr.  Cline 
for  his  teacher,  and  Sir  Astley  Cooper  for  his  fellow-student. 
Mr.  Foster  had  passed  his  life  of  twenty-four  years  in  America. 
The  son  of  a  captain  in  a  merchant  ship,  sailing  from  and  to  the 
port  of  Salem,  in  Massachusetts,  he  had  never  heard  of  Sir 
Astley  Cooper.  One  evening,  in  my  drawing-room,  a  hand,  as 
palpable  as  my  own  hand,  appeared  a  little  above  the  table,  and 
soon  rested  gently  upon  the  thumb  and  four  fingers  on  the  sur 
face  of  it.  Several  persons  were  seated  round  the  table.  Mr. 
Foster,  addressing  me,  said,  'The  person  to  whom  that  hand 
belongs  is  a  friend  of  yours.  He  is  a  handsome  man,  with  a 
portly  presence,  and  is  very  much  gratified  to  see  you,  and  to 
renew  his  acquaintance  with  you.  Before  he  mentions  his  name, 
he  would  like  to  know  if  you  remember  his  calling  your  father 


DR.  ASHBURNER'S  TESTIMONY.  117 

his  old  friend,  and  yourself  his  young  friend.'  I  had  forgotten 
it;  but  I  remembered  it  the  moment  the  name  was  mentioned. 
'  He  calls  himself  Sir  Astley  Cooper,'  said  Mr.  Foster,  '  and 
wishes  me  to  tell  you,  that  certain  spirits  have  the  power,  by  the 
force  of  will,  of  creating,  from  elements  of  organic  matter  in 
the  atmosphere,  fac-similes  of  the  hands  they  possessed  on 
earth.'  Shortly,  the  hand  melted  into  air.  Then  Mr.  Foster 
said,  '  Two  friends  of  yours  desire  to  be  remembered  to  you. 
They  accompany  Sir  Astley  Cooper :  one  was  a  military  sur 
geon,  and  went  to  Canada.  He  was  at  Edinburgh  your  fellow- 
student.  He  calls  himself  Bransby  Cooper.  The  other  was 
your  intimate  friend,  George  Young,  who  has  communicated 
with  you  once  before,  since  he  left  your  sphere.' 

"  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  multiply  facts  relating  to  the 
spiritual  manifestations  of  this  very  extraordinary  medium. 
My  friend,  Sir  William  Topham,  well  known  among  all  who 
have  investigated  mesmeric  phenomena,  as  the  person  who 
induced  on  Wombwell,  at  the  Wellow  Hospital,  that  profound 
unconscious  sleep,  which  enabled  Mr.  Squire  Wood  to  amputate 
a  most  excruciatingly  painful  limb,  above  the  knee,  without  the 
patient's  knowledge,  asked  me  to  give  him  the  opportunity  of 
inquiring  minutely  into  the  phenomena,  respecting  which  our 
friend  Elliotson*  and  I  were  so  completely  divided  in  opinion. 
Sir  William,  with  the  concurrence  of  Foster,  fixed  an  early  day 
for  dinner.  There  were  only  the  three  of  us  at  the  dinner-table. 
The  servant  placed  the  soup-tureen  on  the  table.  No  sooner 
had  I  helped  my  friends  to  soup,  than  Sir  William,  who  had 
preferred  the  seat  with  his  back  to  the  fire,  requested  permission 
to  alter  his  mind,  as  the  fire  was  too  much  for  him.  He  went  to 
the  opposite  side  of  the  table,  forgetting  to  take  his  napkin  with 
him.  Immediately,  a  hand,  apparently  as  real  as  the  hand  of 
any  one  of  us,  appeared,  and  lifted  the  napkin  into  the  air  gently 
and  gracefully,  and  then  dropped  it  carefully  on  the  table. 

*  Elliotson,  as  we  have  already  seen,  after  having  been  a  materialist  up  to  his 
seventieth  year,  came  round  finally  to  Ashbumer's  views  of  the  phenomena,  and  died 
a  happy  believer  in  them. 


Il8  PLANCHETTK. 

Almost  simultaneously,  while  we  were  still  engaged  over  our 
soup,  one  side  of  the  dining-table  was  lifted  up,  as  our  philo 
sophic  friend  Mr.  Faraday  would  conclude,  by  unseen  and 
unconscious  micscular  energy',  and  the  moderator  lamp  did  not 
fall  from  its  place  on  the  centre  of  the  table.  The  decanters, 
saltcellars,  wineglasses,  knives  and  forks,  water-carafes,  tum 
blers,  all  remained  as  they  were  in  their  places :  no  soup  was 
spilled ;  and  Faraday's  unconscious  muscular  force,  or  some 
correlative  or  conserved  agency,  prevented  the  slightest  change 
among  the  correlative  ratios  of  the  table  furniture,  although  the 
top  sloped  to  very  nearly  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees.  There 
was  a  wonderful  conservation  of  my  glass,  china,  and  lamp. 
The  servant  who  was  waiting  upon  us  stared,  lifting  up  both 
arms,  exclaimed,  '  Law!  well,  I  never!  '  and  the  next  minute  he 
cried  out,  '  Do,  do  look  at  the  pictures ! '  which,  with  their  ten 
heavy  frames,  had  appeared  to  strive  how  far  they  could  quit  the 
wall,  and  endeavor  to  reach  the  dinner-table. 

"  The  appearance  of  hands  was  by  no  means  an  unusual  phe 
nomenon.  One  evening,  I  witnessed  the  presence  of  nine  hands 
floating  over  the  dining-table. 

"  On  one  occasion,  the  Hon.  Mrs.  W.  C.  and  her  sister-in-law 
desired  to  try  some  experiments  in  my  dunker  kamer,  a  room 
the  Baron  von  Reichenbach  had  taught  me  how  to  darken 
properly  for  experiments  on  the  od  force  and  the  odic  light 
emanating  from  living  organized  bodies.  This  room  afforded 
opportunities  for  marvellous  manifestations.  When  the  light 
was  excluded,  the  two  ladies  were  seated  on  one  side  of  a  heavy 
rosewood  occasional  table  with  drawers,  weighing  at  least  seventy 
or  eighty  pounds ;  Mr.  Foster  and  I  were  on  chairs  opposite  to 
them.  Suddenly  a  great  alarm  seized  Mr.  Foster :  he  grasped 
my  right  hand,  and  beseeched  me  not  to  quit  my  hold  of  him ; 
for  he  said  there  was  no  knowing  where  the  spirits  might  convey 
him.  I  held  his  hand,  and  he  was  floated  in  the  air  towards  the 
ceiling.  At  one  time,  Mrs.  W.  C.  felt  a  substance  at  her  head, 
and,  putting  up  her  hands,  discovered  a  pair  of  boots  above  her 
head.  At  last  Mr.  Foster's  aerial  voyage  ceased,  and  a  new 


MR.  c.  H.  FOSTER'S  MEDIUMSHIP.  119 

phenomenon  presented  itself.  Some  busts,  as  large  as  life,  rest 
ing  upon  book  cupboards  seven  feet  high,  were  taken  from  their 
places.  One  was  suddenly  put  upon  Mrs.  W.  C.'s  lap ;  others, 
on  my  obtaining  a  light,  were  found  on  the  table.  I  removed 
these  to  a  corner  of  the  room,  and  put  out  the  light.  Then  the 
table  was  lifted  into  the  air,  and  there  remained  for  some  seconds. 
Then  it  gently  descended  into  the  place  it  had  before  occupied,  with 
the  difference  that  the  top  was  turned  downwards,  and  rested  on 
the  carpet.  The  ladies 'were  the  first  to  perceive  that  the  brass 
casters  were  upwards. 

"  One  of  these  ladies  had  missed,  on  another  occasion,  her 
pocket-handkerchief.  Mr.  Foster  told  her  she  would  find  it  in  the 
conservatory  behind  the  back  drawing-room.  It  was  behind  a 
flower-pot.  Mrs.  W.  C.  went  up-stairs,  and  found  the  handker 
chief  in  the  spot  indicated.  A  similar  event  happened  a  second 
time.  The  question  was,  How  the  pocket-handkerchief  could 
travel  from  the  dining-room,  all  doors  being  shut,  to  the  floor 
above,  where  it  was  deposited  on  a  shelf  in  the  conservatory. 
Mr.  Faraday  would  aver  that  my  facts  were  corroborative  of  his 
conservation  of  force. 

"  In  that  back  drawing-room  stands  a  heavy  Broadwood's 
semi-grand  pianoforte.  Mr.  Foster,  who  is  possessed  of  a  fine 
voice,  was  accompanying  himself  while  he  sang.  Both  feet  were 
on  the  pedals,  when  the  pianoforte  rose  into  the  air,  and  was 
gracefully  swung  in  the  air  from  side  to  side,  for  at  least  five  or 
six  minutes.  During  this  time,  the  casters  were  about  at  the 
height  of  a  foot  from  the  carpet." 

Mr.  Foster's  first  indications  of  mediumship  took  place  when 
he  was  about  fourteen  years  old,  at  the  Phillips  school  in  Salem, 
where  his  attention  was  arrested  by  raps  near  him  on  his  desk 
during  school-hours.  The  next  change  was  to  violent  noises 
near  his  bed  at  night,  which  at  once  awakened  him,  and  brought 
his  parents  into  his  room,  where  the  furniture  was  found  tossed 
about  in  all  directions.  At  first  this  happened  only  in  the  dark; 
but  soon  it  came  in  the  light,  and  furniture  would  be  heard 
moving  about  in  rooms  where  no  person  in  the  flesh  was 
present. 


I2O  PLANCHKTTE. 

At  his  manifestations  on  one  occasion,  when  letters  were 
coming  on  his  skin,  two  men  seized  him  rudely  by  the  arm  to 
discover  the  trick,  as  they  called  it.  "  We  know,"  said  they, 
"  that  no  letters  will  come  on  the  arm  while  we  hold  it."  "  What 
will  you  have?"  asked  Foster.  "  Something  that  will  be  a  test," 
cried  they;  "something  that  will  fit  our  case."  Immediately, 
while  they  were  holding  the  arm,  as  in  a  vice,  and  glaring  upon 
it  with  all  their  eyes,  appeared  in  large  round  characters  the 
words,  two  fools ! 

Of  this  phenomenon  of  stigmata  on  the  flesh,  the  instances  are 
numerous  and  thoroughly  authenticated.  Ennemoser,  Passa- 
vent,  Schubert,  and  other  eminent  German  physiologists,  admit 
the  fact  as  not  only  established  as  regards  many  of  the  so-called 
saints  of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  in  undoubted  modern  in 
stances,  as  in  the  case  of  the  ecstaticas  of  the  Tyrol,  Catherine 
Emmerich,  Maria  Dorl,  and  Domenica  Lazzari,  all  of  whom 
exhibited  the  stigmata.  The  signatures  of  the  foetus  are  anal 
ogous  facts ;  and  if  the  mind  of  the  mother  can  act  on  an 
other  organism,  why,  it  is  asked,  should  not  the  minds  of 
mediums  act  on  their  own  ?  The  fact  of  the  phenomenon 
has  been  placed  by  testimony  beyond  the  dispute  of  any  but 
the  ignorant.  We  have  witnessed  repeatedly  under  circum 
stances  where  to  doubt  would  have  been  to  reject  all  rational 
proof  as  worthless. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  Salem  phenomena  of  1692,  as  analo 
gous  with  those  of  1868.  While  we  write,  additional  proof  of 
this  is  offered.  Indeed,  the  candid  chronicler  will  find  himself 
embarrassed  by  the  number  of  confirmatory  narratives,  old  and 
new. 

In  July,  1868,  occurrences  of  an  inexplicable  character  took 
place  in  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Travis  at  Thorney,  a  small  hamlet 
near  Muchelney,  and  about  two  miles  from  the  town  of  Lang- 
port,  in  England.  The  following  account  is  from  the  "Bristol 
[Eng.]  Daily  Post,"  of  August,  1868:  "  It  is  said  that  even  the 
walls  shake  at  times ;  while  the  doors  and  windows  are  opened 
and  closed  again  very  frequently  in  a  most  forcible  manner. 


THE  MUCHELNEY  DISTURBANCES.         121 

Pillows  and  bolsters  are  taken  from  beneath  the  occupants  of 
beds.  Noises,  ranging  from  the  reports  of  many  muskets  to  the 
distant  boom  of  a  field-piece,  are  heard  in  different  parts  of 
the  house.  Scores  of  persons  attest  the  accuracy  of  these  state 
ments.  Most  of  them  avow  that  no  human  agency  could  do 
what  they  have  seen  done  and  escape  detection.  If  there  is 
any  thing  true  in  the  doctrines  which  the  Spiritualists  preach, 
they  may  make  converts  by  the  hundred  in  this  neighbor 
hood." 

Another  English  journal,  the  "Western  Gazette,"  of  July  31, 
1868,  describing  these  occurrences,  remarks,  "  Of  course,  a  great 
philosopher  cannot  be  expected  to  investigate  a  '  trumpery  ghost 
story,'  or  a  '  silly  tale  of  a  haunted  house.'  He  knorvs  that  it  is 
impossible  for  a  table  to  move  without  hands ;  and  it  would, 
therefore,  be  only  a  waste  of  his  valuable  time  to  inquire  whether 
a  table  has  ever  done  so  or  not.  This,  we  fear,  is  the  view 
which  too  many  of  our  all-knowing  savans  will  take  of  the 
Muchelney  business.  But  is  such  a  view  truly  philosophical?  Do 
we  know  every  thing  yet?  Are  there  no  natural  laws  or  forces 
yet  to  be  discovered?  —  no  exceptions,  or  apparent  exceptions,  to 
the  operation  of  known  laws  to  be  determined? 

"  We  may  safely  assert  that  it  is  impossible  that  one  and  one 
can  ever  make  three,  or  that  the  three  angles  of  a  triangle  can 
ever  make  more  or  less  than  two  right  angles ;  but,  once  clear  of 
mathematics,  we  can  never  be  safe  in  using  the  word  '  impossi 
ble.' 

"A  generation  that  sees  two  men  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
globe,  conversing  with  each  other  by  means  of  an  ubiquitous 
agent,  that  is  known  only  by  its  effects,  can  surely  believe  in 
almost  any  thing,  except  the  incorrectness  of  the  multiplication- 
table. 

"We  have  no  well-defined  theory  on  the  subject  of  these 
phenomena ;  but  we  are  convinced  that  there  is  no  trickery  in 
/^/scase;  that  the  phenomena  are  due  to  causes  of  which  science 
has,  as  yet,  taught  us  nothing;  and  that  we  should  act  in  an  un- 
philosophical  spirit  if  we  rejected  the  evidence  of  our  own  and 


122  PLANCHETTE. 

others'  senses  because  of  its  apparent  inconsistency  with  the  little 
which  we  happen  to  know  of  nature's  laws." 

How  much  longer  will  a  false  conservatism  think  to  put  out  of 
existence  verified  facts,  like  these,  by  uttering  its  shrill  negative 
cry,  shutting  its  eyes,  and  burying  its  ostrich  head  in  the 
sand  ! 


',ri:»hiu>    >'*£ 


CHAPTER  VI. 

VARIOUS  MEDIUMS  AND  MANIFESTATIONS. 

"  Now  there  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  spirit.  .  .  .  Have  all  the  gifts  of 
healing?  do  all  speak  with  tongues?  do  all  interpret?"  —  St.  Paul. 

THE  number  of  persons  in  the  United  States  through  whom 
phenomena  similar  to  those  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Home  and 
of  Mr.  Foster  have  taken  place,  is  now  so  large,  that  to  mention 
them  all  would  almost  require  a  volume.  Charles  Colchester, 
young  and  of  a  fine  personal  appearance,  but  wayward  and  infirm 
of  purpose,  like  many  similar  sensitives,  gave  us  several  sittings, 
at  which  he  manifested  remarkable  powers,  not  unlike  those  of 
Mr.  Foster. 

We  know  not  how  true  it  is,  but  Mr.  Colchester  told  us,  that 
on  his  meeting  Hermann,  the  celebrated  prestidigitateur,  the 
latter  said  to  him,  "  If  you  can  give  me  the  name  of  my  father, 
I  will  believe  that  your  intelligence  is  preternatural }  for  no  per 
son  in  America,  I  am  convinced,  knows  that  name."  Colchester 
at  once  wrote  out  the  name,  Samuel  Hermann  Radesky ;  and 
Hermann  said  it  was  right. 

Mr.  William  Ambisy  Colby  relates  (July  6,  1861)  that  he 
called  on  Colchester  in  New  York.  "I  first  asked  him,"  says 
Mr.  Colby,  "  if  he  could  tell  me  what  I  had  lost.  He  told  me  I 
had  lost  a  pocket-book  with  papers  in  it  of  no  value;  that  it  was 
picked  from  my  pocket  in  a  Broadway  stage.  I  then  told  him 
that  he  was  mistaken;  for  there  was  a  paper  amongst  them 
of  value.  <  Oh,  no  ! '  said  Colchester,  « I  am  not  mistaken  ;  but  it 
is  you  who  are  mistaken.  The  paper  you  have  reference  to  is  a 
check  for  $315.  which,  instead  of  putting  in  your  wallet,  you  put 


124  PLANCHETTE. 

in  jour  hat,  inside  the  lining.'  I  immediately  looked  in  my  hat; 
and,  sure  enough,  the  check  was  there,  just  where  Colchester  told 
me  it  was." 

Here,  surely,  was  information,  on  the  medium's  part,  quite 
independent  of  any  conscious  knowledge  in  the  mind  of  the 
inquirer.  Yet  how  often  we  are  told,  that  the  medium's  knowl 
edge  is  always  got  from  the  mind  of  the  inquirer! 

In  a  letter  to  our  friend,  Mr.  Coleman,  of  London,  Professor 
W.  D.  Gunning  writes  (1868)  from  Boston,  as  follows  in  regard 
to  Mrs.  Cushman,  a  medium  who  resides  in  Charlestown, 
Mass. :  "I  visited  her  house  in  company  with  a  Boston  clergy 
man.  A  guitar  was  laid  on  my  knees,  and  after  a  few  minutes 
lifted  up,  held  in  the  air,  and  played  upon  by  unseen  hands. 
This  was  in  full  daylight.  The  concert  lasted  an  hour.  It  was 
utterly  impossible  for  the  lady  to  touch  the  strings.  No  mortal, 
under  the  circumstances,  could  have  made  the  music.  Of  this 
we  were  both  satisfied.  We  did  not  decide  hastily,  but  only 
after  the  fullest  investigation.  Now,  the  agent  that  played  the 
guitar,  whatever  it  was,  acted  wonderfully  like  a  human  being. 
We  requested  a  particular  tune :  it  was  played ;  then  another : 
that  was  also  played ;  and  so  on  for  an  hour.  How  could  we 
resist  the  conviction  that  here,  unseen  by  us,  was  a  spiritual 
being,  a  man  or  woman,  knowing  the  music  that  we  knew, 
hearing  our  words  or  reading  our  thoughts,  and  able,  under 
conditions  we  may  not  understand,  to  move  material  things? 
1  We  are  compassed  about  with  a  cloud  of  witnesses.'  We  need 
to  return  to  the  early  faith,  the  faith  of  the  founders  of  Chris 
tianity,  the  faith  of  all  great  poets  of  all  ages.  This  age  is 
steeped  in  materialism;  but  re-action  has  begun.  Men  are  cry 
ing  out  for  the  knowledge  of  Eternal  Life.  With  the  eloquent 
Bishop  of  Rhode  Island,  I  hail  this  influx  from  the  spirit-world 
as  a  gift  of  the  Father,  sent  in  his  own  good  time  to  his  children, 
to  wean  them  from  doubt,  to  confirm  them  in  faith,  to  take  away 
the  sting  of  death  by  the  knowledge  that  immortality  means  no 
gauzy  abstraction,  but  real  human  life." 

In  the  winter  of  1860-61  we  tested,  on  some  fortv  occasions, 


MANIFESTATIONS    THROUGH    MISS    LORD.  125 

the  mediumship  of  Miss  Jennie  Lord  (now  Mrs.  Webb),  through 
whom  physical  manifestations,  of  quite  a  startling  character, 
were  produced.  These  took  place  several  times  at  our  own  house, 
where  the  possibility  of  trick  or  collusion  was  carefully  excluded. 
In  two  or  three  instances  a  friend  (the  same  who  wrote  the 
incredulous  letter  from  Rochester  in  Chapter  II.  of  this  volume) 
was  present,  at  our  invitation ;  and  once  we  were  present  at  his, 
when  the  phenomena  took  place  in  his  own  house  in  Boston. 
While  the  occurrences  of  the  evening  were  fresh  in  our  minds, 
we  each  wrote  an  accpunt  of  them;  and  his  narrative  was  after 
wards  put  in  the  form  of  a  letter  and  sent  to  our  mutual  friend, 
William  M.  Wilkinson,  in  England.  We  subjoin  it:  — 

"DEAR  SIR,  —  I  wish  to  send  you  an  account  of  some  spirit 
ual  manifestations  which  I  have  lately  witnessed ;  and  which, 
indeed,  have  been  the  only  experiences  of  the  kind,  which  I 
have  had  since  I  saw  you  in  London  last  June.  As  you  know, 
I  have  been  long  absent  from  this  city,  sojourning  in  France  and 
Italy  for  four  years. 

"On  my  return  here,  I  found  that,  among  my  immediate 
friends,  Spiritualism  was  regarded  as  a  something  dead.  But 
the  only  reason  which  my  informants  could  give  for  their  belief, 
was  that  they  had  not  heard  the  subject  mentioned  for  a  year  or 
two.  However,  I  asked  them,  and  they  smiled  when  I  did  so, 
whether  the  northern  lights  would  become  incredible  by  not 
being  talked  about.  . 

"Through  a  friend,  whose  name  and  judgment  are  a  sufficient 
guarantee  for  whatever  he  may  choose  to  vouch,  I  heard  lately 
of  a  medium  whom  I  had  never  known  before.  That  medium 
is  a  young  fragile  woman.  Last  Tuesday  evening  she  came  to 
my  house.  I  had  some  friends  to  meet  her.  Altogether  for  the 
seance*  we  were  eight  in  number.  It  was  explained  to  us,  that 
the  medium  would  pass  into  a  state  of  trance,  and  that  the  room 
would  have  to  be  darkened.  '  Oh  ! '  says  some  skeptic,  '  a  dark 
room  !  That  is  enough  for  me.'  Perhaps  so  ;  and  perhaps  also 
it  would  be  enough  for  him.  equally,  if  it  were  insisted  that 


126  PLANCHETTH. 

mediumship  was  impossible  in  the  dark,  and  possible  only  in  a 
room  all  ablaze  with  light.  But,  before  we  advance  further, 
I  will  ask  this  skeptic,  why  is  it  that  an  iron  ball  will  retain  heat 
in  the  dark  longer  than  in  the  light?  And  perhaps  in  ascer 
taining  that,  he  may  learn  something  which  may  help  in  the 
inquiry,  why  spiritual  mediumship  is  sometimes  stronger  or 
more  effective  when  the  light  is  excluded? 

"There  were  ranged  on  a  table,  about  two  feet  behind  the 
medium,  the  articles  which  it  was  understood  would  be  in  requi 
sition  during  the  evening.  About  the  placing  of  the  articles, 
there  was  no  mystery  made,  nor  was  any  jugglery  possible,  in 
connection  with  the  manner  in  which  they  were  disposed.  We 
sat  round  a  table ;  and,  after  a  little  singing,  the  medium  passed 
into  a  state,  apparently,  of  trance.  The  expression  of  her  face 
was  much  changed,  was  much  refined  and  beautified.  The  last 
light  was  extinguished.  All  round  the  table,  we  held  one 
another's  hands,  except  the  medium ;  and  she,  instead  of  hold 
ing  my  hand,  laid  her  hand  upon  mine,  drawing  her  hand  along 
it,  as  though  for  some  mesmeric  purpose.  Her  other  hand  was 
placed  similarly  on  the  hand  of  one  of  my  friends,  who  sat  on 
the  other  side  of  her. 

"  For  persons  hard  of  belief,  I  would  remark,  that  if  darkness 
be  unfavorable,  in  some  respects,  for  detecting  imposture,  it  is 
also  very  unfavorable,  in  a  strange  place,  for  the  operations  of 
one  who  would  cheat.  I  wish  it  too,  to  be  fully  understood, 
that,  throughout  all  the  wonders  which  happened,  we  had  full 
knowledge  of  each  other's  hands  every  moment.  Several  times 
when  the  phenomena  were  most  remarkable,  I  said  to  my  friends, 
'  Now  are  we  all  sure,  that  we,  every  one,  have  charge  of  the 
hands  which  we  ought  to  be  holding?'  And  the  answer  was, 
'  Yes  :  we  are  all  satisfied.' 

"A  bell  was  carried  round  the  room,  ringing;  was  rung  over 
our  heads,  and  was  placed  against  my  cheek.  A  guitar  was 
played  upon,  as  it  was  carried  about  the  room.  It  was  laid  on 
our  heads  and  played  upon.  It  was  whirled  over  our  heads 
so  rapidly,  that  we  felt  the  wind  of  it,  as  it  went  round  and 


MANIFESTATIONS    THROUGH    MISS    LORD.  12J 

round.  It  was  rapped  on  the  heads  of  five  or  six  persons ;  it 
was  rattled  among  the  glasses  of  the  chandelier;  it  was  struck 
on  the  floor,  and  thrown  on  to  the  table,  —  and  all  this,  as  it 
seemed,  in  a  moment.  The  quick,  versatile  movement  of  the 
instrument  I  can  liken  to  nothing  so  much  as  to  the  darting  of 
a  fly  to  and  fro. 

;'  A  glass  of  water  was  placed  to  my  lips,  in  the  neatest  manner 
possible ;  and  I  drank  from  it.  And  it  was  carried  round  to  the 
lips  of  other  persons  at  the  table.  A  tambourine  was  beaten  as 
it  was  borne  about  the  room.  It  was  struck  on  our  heads  ;  and 
it  was  shaken  above  us  with  great  force.  A  horn  was  blown, 
and  made  a  noise  almost  terrific.  With  several  of  us  a  sheet  of 
paper  was  spread  over  the  face,  and  through  it  we  felt  distinctly 
the  pressure  of  a  hand.  A  hand,  without  any  thing  interven 
ing,  was  placed  on  my  head.  It  was  a  large  hand ;  and  it 
grasped  my  head  firmly,  and  shook  it.  It  took  hold  of  a  lock 
of  hair  over  my  forehead,  and  pulled  it.  That  these  things  were 
not  done  by  persons  of  flesh  and  blood,  I  know  thoroughly 
well. 

"I  have  an  acquaintance,  who  was  wont  to  be  a  very  fierce 
and  bitter  opponent  of  Spiritualism.  He  used  to  account  medi- 
umship  as  an  imposture,  a  transparent  and  a  gross  impos 
ture;  a  most  cunning  imposture;  and  also  a  most  simple  kind 
of  imposture.  Now,  lately  he  said  to  me,  '  Blowing  a  horn, 
playing  a  guitar!  What  is  the  good  of  that?' 

"I  answered  him,  'My  friend,  I  did  not  say  there  was  any 
good  in  it.  I  merely  said  there  was  a  fact  in  it,  and  that  fact, 
the  operation  of  a  spirit.  And  if  you  think  that  to  be  nothing, 
why,  then  you  must  think  very  differently  now  from  what  you 
did,  when  the  mere  supposition  that  a  spirit  might  rap  on  the 
table  used  to  make  you  foam  with  excitement,  as  you  re 
member.' 

"  'Ah.  well ! '  he  said,  'but  what  now  do  you  think  is  the  use 
of  it?  And  why  cannot  it  be  done  anywhere  by  anybody? 
And  if  spirits  can  do  such  things  as  you  say,  why  can  they 
not  tell  us  something  useful,  whether  there  is  going  to  be  a 
war ' 


128  PLANCHETTE. 

"  'And  perhaps  you  would  add,'  I  replied,  'how  to  square  the 
circle,  how  to  be  infallible  as  to  latitude  and  longitude  at  sea, 
and  how  to  find  the  philosopher's  stone.  But,  mj  friend,  it  may 
be  that  many  a  spirit  is  less  intelligent  than  you  yourself  are. 
For,  when  you  think  of  it,  what  a  way  to  wisdom  that  would 
be,  for  a  spirit  to  become  omniscient  with  merely  slipping  off  his 
overcoat  of  flesh  ! ' 

"'But  —  but  —  but  why  do  they  not  teach  us  something  — 
some  of  them?  And  is  it  not  true,  that  they  often  tell  lies? 
And,  in  fact,  somehow  I  can  make  nothing  out  of  it.' 

"  To  this  I  answered,  '  That  is  very  probable !  and  no  great 
wonder.  And  by  the  way  of  mediumship,  as  to  spirits  tell 
ing  falsehoods,  as  you  suppose  they  do  sometimes,  why  that 
would  show  at  least  that  there  are  lying  spirits.  And  that  thing 
made  certain  to  you  as  a  fact,  would  be  a  matter  of  more  impor 
tance,  infinitely,  than  the  discovery  of  twenty  new  comets.  And 
now  as  to  a  spirit  blowing  a  horn  or  beating  a  tambourine, 
you  think  it  is  nothing.  But,  for  myself,  I  think  that  it  implies 
a  spirit  present  who  is  the  actor;  that  it  proves  that,  under  cer 
tain  circumstances,  spirits  have  power  over  matter;  and  that  it 
suggests  many  subjects  for  the  most  serious  consideration  of  the 
theologian,  the  moralist,  and  the  man  of  science. 

"  I  am,  yours  truly,  w.  M." 

On  several  occasions  we  have  known  Miss  Lord  to  be  lifted 
bodily  with  her  chair,  while  she  was  seated  in  it,  from  the  floor 
on  to  the  table,  by  some  unknown  force.  In  a  like  mysterious 
manner,  at  our  own  house,  a  large  bass-viol  was  played  on 
vigorously  and  with  fair  skill,  while  the  medium's  hands  were 
held  by  us,  and  deception  was  impossible.  "Coronation"  and 
other  sacred  tunes  were  thus  played.  The  poiver,  whatever  it 
was,  would,  before  playing,  spend  a  minute  or  two  in  tuning  the 
instrument,  and  would  then  indicate  its  readiness  by  tapping 
the  heads  of  certain  persons  in  the  audience  with  the  bow.  A 
large,  flexible  hand,  full  of  life  and  guided  by  intelligence,  and 
which  was  nearly  twice  the  size  of  Miss  Lord's  hand,  touched  us 


PHENOMENA    IN    PRESENCE    OF    MISS    ELLIS.  129 

and  others  repeatedly  on  the  head,  pulled  our  hair,  took  down 
the  hair  of  our  sister,  and  then  put  it  up  as  before,  placed  a 
tumbler  filled  with  water  at  our  lips,  and  this  at  the  right  angle, 
and  with  the  nicest  adjustment,  so  that  not  a  drop  was  spilt. 
These  manifestations,  though  in  utter  darkness,  were  of  such  a 
character,  and  produced  under  such  conditions,  as  to  render 
imposture  impracticable. 

A  writer  in  "  Once  a  Week,"  a  London  journal,  recently  under 
took  to  account  for  the  phenomenon  of  the  "  spirit-hand  "  by  the 
theory  that  the  effect  was  accomplished  by  the  aid  of  an  instru 
ment  he  calls  the  lazy-tongs.  It  is  perhaps  superfluous  to  say 
that  his  explanation  is  now  obsolete,  like  the  toe-joint  theory  to 
explain  the  rappings  :  it  does  not  begin  to  cover  the  facts. 

Another  medium,  through  whom  we  have  witnessed  some 
astonishing  phenomena,  though  we  have  not  had  opportunities 
of  testing  them  as  thoroughly  as  those  through  Miss  Lord,  is 
Miss  Laura  V.  Ellis,  of  Springfield,  Mass.  This  young  lady 
was  only  fourteen  at  the  time  we  first  saw  her  in  the  summer  of 
1866.  She  entered  a  small  movable  cabinet  or  closet,  and  while 
she  was  tied  there  in  the  most  thorough  manner,  the  door  was 
closed,  whereupon,  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time,  various 
manifestations  requiring  the  free  use  of  hands  or  feet  took  place. 
The  following  account  by  Mr.  L.  J.  Fuller  of  a  sitting  at  Willi- 
mantic,  Conn.,  February,  1867,  corresponds  with  our  own  experi 
ence  :  — 

"  After  Miss  Ellis  was  tied  in  the  usual  way  with  strips  of  cloth, 
the  knots  were  sewed  through  and  through,  and  then  the  ends  of 
the  cloth  sewed  strongly  to  the  sleeves  of  her  dress ;  after  which 
she  was  firmly  secured  in  the  cabinet,  when  the  following  mani 
festations  were  given  :  A  string  was  tied  around  her  neck  in  a 
square  knot  in  six  seconds ;  this  was  repeated  twice,  with  the 
same  results.  A  string  was  tied  around  the  waist  in  four  seconds  ; 
repeated  twice,  once  in  four  seconds,  and  once  in  three ;  tied 
around  the  back  of  her  neck  in  eight  seconds  ;  front  of  her  neck, 
fifteen  seconds ;  repeated  in  fourteen  seconds ;  untied  from  her 
neck  in  fifteen  seconds;  untied  from  front  of  neck  in  three 

o 


I3O  PLANCHETTE. 

seconds ;  bell  rung  in  two  seconds ;  repeated  in  four  seconds ; 
loud  raps  with  stick  in  two  seconds ;  repeated  in  one  second ; 
stick  thrust  through  the  aperture  of  the  cabinet  fourteen  inches, 
and  afterward  thrown  ten  feet  from  the  cabinet ;  playing  on  the 
tambourine  in  one  second;  playing  on  the  trombone  in  one  sec 
ond;  also  singing,  and  keeping  time  with  the  trombone; 
drumming,  whistling,  and  keeping  time  with  the  jews-harp,  and 
other  instruments ;  besides  many  other  and  varied  manifesta 
tions.  Her  hands  were  then  untied  and  extended  horizontally, 
and  tied  to  staples,  so  that  by  turning  the  hands  toward  the  head, 
which  was  fastened  back  to  the  cabinet,  the  nearest  they  could 
come  to  the  ends  of  the  knot  was  twelve  inches  from  them.  The 
knot  was  untied  the  first  time  in  thirty  seconds,  and  the  second 
time  in  twenty  seconds. 

"The  whole  was  done  under  the  closest  scrutiny  of  a  commit 
tee  of  three,  no  one  .of  whom  could  detect  the  slightest  evidence 
of  collusion  during  the  whole  entertainment.  The  medium's 
hands  were  repeatedly  examined  during  the  whole  time  of  the 
entertainment,  and  found  in  the  same  condition  as  when  first 
tied.  No  show  of  any  effort  on  her  part  could  by  the  closest 
scrutiny  be  detected ;  and  all  unprejudiced  minds  were  satisfied 
that  the  manifestations  were  produced  by  some  power  outside  of 
Miss  Ellis." 

On  another  occasion,  at  Keene,  N.H.,  according  to  the  report 
of  Mr.  Henry  Woods,  "  a  trombone,  harmonicon,  tambourine, 
and  drum  were  played,  and  other  feats  performed;  all  these 
feats  being  done  while  Miss  Ellis's  wrists  were  securely  tied  at 
her  back,  and  to  the  cabinet,  her  ankles  tied,  and  neck  also  fas 
tened  to  the  cabinet.  Last,  but  not  least,  a  knife  with  the  blade 
shut,  having  been  laid  in  her  lap,  was  taken  and  used  to  cut  her 
loose  from  the  cabinet,  and  to  disengage  her  wrists,  the  knife 
being  then  left  half-way  open  in  her  lap.  Let  none  say  that 
these  things  are  accomplished  by  trickery,  until  they  have  been 
personal  witnesses  of  the  wonderful  phenomena  presented." 

Various  attempts  have  been  made  to  prove  that  these  pheno 
mena  are  mere  tricks ;  and  several  imitators,  some  perhaps  with 


THE    IRON    RING    PHENOMENON.  13! 

the  partial  aid  of  forces  similar  to  those  operating  through  Miss 
Ellis,  have  undertaken  to  show  that  the  manifestations  could  all 
be  accomplished  by  manual  dexterity;  but,  thus  far,  no  one  has 
succeeded  in  indicating  this  to  the  satisfaction  of  candid  com 
mittees.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  partially  gifted  mediums  to  try 
to  excite  attention  by  denouncing  the  manifestations  through 
their  more  successful  brethren  or  sisters  as  fraudulent;  but,  when 
it  comes  to  the  proof,  they  always  fail  of  proving  in  the  light,  that 
all  the  phenomena  can  be  produced  by  trick  or  skill. 

Under  date  of  Nov.  24,  1867,  Mr.  W.  A.  Danskin,  of  Balti 
more,  Md.,  gives  an  account  of  a  youth,  about  nineteen  years 
old,  and  whose  head  measured  twenty-two  inches  round,  from 
whose  neck  a  solid  iron  ring  weighing  fourteen  ounces,  and 
measuring  but  fifteen  inches  on  its  inner  circle,  was  taken  and 
replaced.  The  ring  was  submitted  to  the  closest  inspection,  both 
before  the  experiment  and  while  on  the  neck. 

On  one  occasion  another  ring,  precisely  similar  in  appearance 
to  the  one  ordinarily  used  at  the  exhibition,  was  made,  marked 
by  four  indentations  while  the  metal  was  soft,  and  brought  to  the 
hall,  at  one  of  the  public  exhibitions,  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  medium  or  his  friends.  The  parties  having  it  in  charge 
watched  their  opportunity,  and  substituted  the  marked  ring  for 
the  original.  The  manifestation  was  successfully  given,  though 
the  time  of  it  was  somewhat  extended,  and  the  medium  was 
much  exhausted. 

"Once,"  says  Mr.  Danskin,  "when  only  three  persons  were 
present,  —  the  medium,  a  friend,  and  myself,  —  we  sat  together  in 
a  dark  room.  I  held  the  left  hand  of  the  medium,  my  friend  held 
his  right  hand,  our  other  hands  being  joined;  and,  while 
thus  sitting,  the  ring,  which  I  had  thrown  some  distance  from 
us  on  the  floor,  suddenly  came  around  my  arm.  I  had  never 
loosened  my  hold  upon  the  medium,  yet  that  solid  iron  ring,  by 
an  invisible  power,  was  made  to  clasp  my  arm,  thus  demonstrat- 
•  ing  the  power  of  our  unseen  friends  to  separate  and  re-unite,  as 
well  as  to  expand,  the  particles  of  which  the  ring  was  com 
posed." 


132  PLANCHETTE. 

The  following  testimonial  is  signed  by  thirty-one  gentlemen 
of  Baltimore,  whose  names  may  be  found  published  in  the 
"'Banner  of  Light,"  of  Jan.  n,  1868:  — 

"  We,  the  undersigned,  hereby  testify  that  we  have  attended 
the  social  meetings  referred  to ;  and  that  a  solid  iron  ring,  seven 
inches  less  in  size  than  the  young  man's  head,  was  actually 
and  unmistakably  placed  around  his  neck.  There  was,  as  the 
advertisement  claims,  no  possibility  of  fraud  or  deception, 
because  the  ring  was  freely  submitted  to  the  examination  of  the 
audience,  both  before  and  while  on  the  neck  of  the  young 
man." 

This  extraordinary  medium  died  of  consumption  of  the  lungs, 
July  2,  1868.  Since  his  death,  Mr.  Danskin  writes,  "The  ring 
manifestation  was  entirely  free  from  deception  or  fraud;  and, 
under  the  conditions  established,  fraud  was  absolutely  impossi 
ble."  He  is  confident  that  in  no  single  instance  did  this  medium 
attempt  to  impose  on  any  one. 

Some  surprising  manifestations,  through  Mr.  Charles  H. 
Read,  of  Buffalo,  have  been  witnessed  during  the  summer  and 
autumn  of  1868.  The  "Daily  Times,"  of  Brooklyn,  N.Y.,  in  its 
issue  of  April  3,  1868,  has  a  clear  and  accurate  account  of  these 
phenomena,  of  which  ours  is  an  abridgment. 

Precautions  were  taken  against  the  possible  intrusion  of  any 
confederate.  Mr.  Read  was  securely  tied.  The  wrists  were 
made  fast  until  the  cord  settled  well  into  the  flesh ;  it  was  then 
drawn  between  the  knees,  the  ends  being  carried  down  with  two 
well-jammed  turns  on  the  front  rung  of  the  chair,  and  then  back 
to  the  rear  rung,  where  the  end  was  made  fast  with  several  half- 
hitches.  The  arms  were  secured  and  tied  to  the  back  of  the 
chair,  and  the  legs  fastened  at  the  ankles  to  the  rear  legs  of 
the  same.  Being  seated  in  position,  and  at  a  distance  from  the 
table,  the  gas  was  turned  off;  and  in  about  one- half  of  a  minute, 
on  being  re-lighted,  one  of  the  rings  encircled  his  arm. 

The  fastenings  were  instantly  examined,  and  found  undis 
turbed.  During  the  dark  interval,  some  S'nging  was  indulged 
in.  Supposing  a  confederate  to  have  beei  j>ble  to  pass  the  twine 


MANIFESTATIONS    THROUGH    C.    H.    READ.  133 

barrier  without  ringing  the  bell,  he  could  not,  in  half  a  minute, 
have  untied  the  ropes  so  as  to  slip  the  ring  on  the  arm,  and  re- 
tie  them  again  ;  for  it  required  more  than  five  minutes  to  adjust 
them  in  the  first  instance,  and  the  same  knots  could  not  have 
been  even  simulated.  The  ring  still  remaining  on  the  right 
arm,  the  gas  was  again  extinguished;  and  in  less  than  a  minute 
the  light  revealed  the  stool  on  his  arm  ;  or,  in  other  words,  the 
ring  was  on  the  floor,  where  it  had  been  heard  to  fall,  and 
the  stool  had  taken  its  place.  There  was  no  movable  ring  which 
could  have  been  removed  so  as  to  slip  the  stool-leg  down  between 
the  arm  of  the  medium  and  his  body.  The  ropes  and  knots  were 
still  intact. 

Once  more  was  darkness ;  and  the  next  revelation  was  the 
medium's  coat  off  and  on  the  floor,  against  the  wall,  at  some  dis 
tance  from  his  position.  The  fastenings  were  again  examined: 
not  the  least  slackening  was  found.  A  further  test  was  made, 
and  the  stool  appeared  on  the  other  arm. 

At  the  request  of  the  demonstrator,  the  writer  placed  his  own 
coat  on  the  table ;  and,  in  less  time  than  this  sentence  may  be 
written,  he  beheld  one  of  Mr.  Read's  arms  in  the  sleeve  of  the 
garment,  which  could  not  be  removed  without  cutting  or  untying 
the  ropes.  A  moment  or  two  of  dai'kness,  however,  sufficed  to 
find  it  thrown  to  one  side  of  the  apartment.  During  these  demon 
strations  the  medium  seemed  to  become  gradually  weak  and 
exhausted,  as  if  he  had  been  rudely  handled.  Finally,  there  was 
more  darkness ;  and  in  a  little  more  than  a  minute,  counted  by  a 
healthy  and  regular  pulse,  there  came  a  sound  as  of  something 
thrown  aside,  which  the  gas  revealed  as  the  ropes  on  the  chande 
lier. 

The  man  was  entirely  free,  and  before  him  dangled  the  fasten 
ings.  His  wrists  showed  deep  indentations;  and  his  hands  were 
swollen,  from  partial  suspension  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 
The  reader  may  be  assured  that  in  all  this  there  was  not,  and 
could  not  be,  the  slightest  collusion.  Mr.  Read  could  not  untie 
himself,  nor  could  he  be  approached  by  a  confederate. 

Similar    phenomena    through    Mr.    Read,   accompanied   with 


134  PLANCHETTE. 

touches  from  spirit-hands,*  on  the  persons  of  several  among  the 
audience,  were  witnessed  on  the  evening  of  Sept.  8,  1868,  at 
the  residence  of  Mr.  Z.  A.  Willard,  of  Boston. 

Vocal  manifestations  have  been  not  unfrequent  in  the 
history  of  supposed  spiritual  disturbances.  Some  very  singular 
occurrences  took  place  in  the  family  of  John  Richardson,  in 
Hartford,  Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  the  latter  part  of  the  year 
1854.  The  affidavits  of  himself,  his  wife,  and  Mr.  James  H. 
More,  bearing  date  Jan.  8,  1855,  were  duly  made  before  Mr. 
William  J.  Bright,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  who,  in  communicating 
them  to  the  public,  says,  "The  facts  are  of  public  notoriety 
here,  and  can  no  doubt  be  sustained  by  any  amount  of  evi 
dence." 

The  wildest  doings  of  the  days  of  witchcraft  are  paralleled  in 
the  following  narrative,  which  we  quote  for  its  explicit  testimony 
in  regard  to  the  vocal  manifestations  :  — 

"  About  five  weeks  ago,"  deposes  Mr.  Richardson,  "  my  atten 
tion  was  arrested  by  a  very  sharp  and  loud  whistle,  seemingly  in 
a  small  closet  in  one  corner  of  my  house.  This  was  followed  by 
loud  and  distinct  raps,  as  loud  as  a  person  could  conveniently 
rap  with  the  knuckles.  The  closet-door  is  secured  or  fastened 
by  a  wood  button  that  turns  over  the  edge  of  the  door.  This 
button  would  frequently  turn,  and  the  door  open,  without  any 
visible  agency.  This  was  followed  by  a  loud  and  distinct 
(apparently)  human  voice,  which  could  be  heard,  perhaps,  fifty 
rods. 

"After  repeating  a  very  loud  and  shrill  scream  several  times, 
the  voice  fell  to  a  lower  key,  and,  in  a  tone  about  as  loud  as 
ordinary  conversation,  commenced  speaking  in  a  plain  and 
distinct  manner,  assuring  the  family  that  we  would  not  be 
burned,  and  requesting  us  to  have  no  fear  of  any  injury,  as  we 
were  in  no  danger.  Those  manifestations  being  altogether 

*  Prof.  Denton,  the  accomplished  geologist,  author  of  a  remarkable  work,  entitled 
"The  Soul  of  Things,"  says,  "  I  have  seen  spirit-hands  over  and  over  again,  — have 
taken  impressions  of  them  in  flour  and  putty  and  clay."  We  have  a  letter  from  Dr.  J. 
F.  Gray,  describing  his  examination  of  a  spirit-hand  in  the  light. 


VOCAL    MANIFESTATIONS.  135 

unaccountable  to  myself  and  family,  we  searched  the  entire 
house,  to  find,  if  possible,  the  cause  of  this  new  and  startling 
phenomenon,  but  found  no  one  in  or  about  the  premises  but  the 
family.  Again  we  were  startled  by  a  repetition  of  the  screams, 
which  were  repeated  perhaps  a  dozen  times,  when  the  voice 
proceeded  to  inform  us  that  the  conversation  came  from  the 
spirit  of  two  brothers,  calling  themselves  Henry  and  George 
Force,  who  claim  to  have  been  murdered  some  eleven  years 
since  ;  and  then  gave  us  what  they  represented  as  a  history  of 
the  tragedy,  and  insisted  that  we  should  call  on  some  of  the 
neighbors,  to  hear  the  disclosure.  John  Ranney,  Henry  Moore, 
and  some  dozen  others,  were  then  called  in,  to  whom  the  history 
was  detailed  at  length.  We  could  readily  discover  a  difference 
in  the  voice  professing  to  come  from  the  two  spirits. 

"  About  the  third  day  after  these  manifestations  commenced, 
my  w;ife  brought  a  ham  of  meat  into  the  house,  and  laid  it  on 
the  table,  and  stepped  to  the  other  side  of  the  room,  when  the 
ham  was  carried  by  some  invisible  agency  from  four  to  six  feet 
from  the  table,  and  thrown  upon  the  floor.  At  another  time,  a 
bucket  of  water  was,  without  human  hands,  taken  from  the  table, 
carried  some  six  feet,  and  poured  upon  the  floor.  This  was 
followed  by  a  large  dining-table  turning  round  from  its  position 
at  the  side  of  the  room,  and  being  carried  forward  to  the  stove, 
a  distance  of  more  than  six  feet.  This  was  done  while  there  was  no 
person  near  it.  The  same  table  has,  since  that  time,  been  thrown 
on  its  side  without  human  agency,  and  often  been  made  to  dance 
about  while  the  family  were  eating  around  it.  At  one  time, 
dishes,  knives,  and  forks  were  thrown  from  the  table  to  the 
opposite  side  of  the  room,  breaking  the  dishes  to  pieces.  _ 

"On  another  occasion,  the  voice  requested  Mrs.  Richardson 
to  remove  the  dishes  from  the  table,  which  was  done  immedi 
ately,  when  the  table  commenced  rocking  violently  back  and 
forward,  and  continued  the  motion,  so  that  the  dishes  could  not 
be  washed  upon  it,  but  were  placed  in  a  vessel  and  set  upon  the 
floor,  from  which  a  number  of  them  flew  from  the  tub  to  the 
chamber-floor  overhead,  and  were  thus  broken  to  pieces.  What 


136  PLANCHETTE. 

crockery  remained  we  attempted  to  secure  by  placing  it  in  a 
cupboard,  and  shut  the  doors,  which  were  violently  thrown  open  ; 
and  the  dishes  flew,  like  lightning,  one  after  another,  against 
the  opposite  side,  and  broke  to  pieces.  At  another  time,  a  drawer 
in  the  table  was,  while  there  was  no  person  near  it,  drawn  out; 
and  a  plate  that  had  been  placed  there  carried  across  the  room 
and  broken  against  the  opposite  wall.  And  this  kind  of  demon 
stration  has  continued  until  nearly  all  the  crockery  about  the 
house  has  been  broken  and  destroyed. 

"At  different  times,  the  drawers  of  a  stand  in  a  bedroom  have 
been  taken  out,  and  at  one  time  carefully  placed  on  a  bed.  A 
large  stove-boiler  has  been,  while  on  the  stove,  filled  with  water, 
tipped  up,  and  caused  to  stand  on  one  end,  and  the  water  was 
turned  out  upon  the  floor,  and  at  this  time  taken  off  from  the 
stove,  and  carried  some  six  feet,  and  set  down  upon  the  floor, 
and  this  while  untouched  by  any  person.  A  teakettle  has  often 
been  taken  from  the  stove  in  the  same  manner,  and  thrown  upon 
the  floor.  At  one  time,  a  spider,  containing  some  coffee  for  the 
purpose  of  browning,  was  taken  from  the  stove,  carried  near  the 
chamber-floor,  and  then  thrown  upon  the  floor.  And  frequently, 
while  Mrs.  Richardson  has  been  baking  buckwheat  cakes  on  the 
stove,  the  griddle  has,  in  the  same  unaccountable  manner,  been 
taken  from  the  stove,  and  thrown  across  the  house;  and  often 
cakes  have  been  taken  from  the  griddle  while  baking,  and  have 
disappeared  entirely. 

"At  one  time,  the  voice,  speaking  to  my  wife,  said  it  (the 
spirit)  could  bake  cakes  for  George,  a  boy  eating  at  the  table. 
Mrs.  Richardson  stepped  away  from  the  stove,  when  the  batter 
(alrtady  prepared  for  baking  cakes)  was  by  some  unseen  agency 
taken  from  a  crock  sitting  near  the  stove,  and  placed  upon  the 
griddle,  and  turned  at  the  proper  time,  and  when  done  taken 
from  the  griddle,  and  placed  upon  the  boy's  plate  at  the  table. 
The  voice  then  proposed  to  bake  a  cake  for  Jane,  my  daughter, 
who  was  at  work  about  the  house.  The  cake  was  accordingly 
baked  in  the  same  manner  as  before  stated,  and  carried  across 
the  room  and  placed  in  the  girl's  hand. 


SPIRIT    PHOTOGRAPHS.  137 

"  During  all  these  occurrences,  the  talking  from  the  two  voices 
and  others  has  continued,  and  still  continues  daily,  together  with 
such  manifestations  as  I  have  detailed,  with  many  others  not 
named.  The  conversation,  as  well  as  the  other  demonstrations, 
have  been  witnessed  almost  daily  by  myself  and  family,  as  well 
as  by  scores  of  persons,  who  have  visited  my  house  to  witness 
these  strange  phenomena. 

"I  will  only  add,  that  the  spirit  (the  voice)  gave  as  a  reason 
for  breaking  crockery  and  destroying  property,  that  it  is  done  to 
convince  the  world  of  the  existence  of  spirit  presence." 

Several  instances  are  related  in  which  photographs  of  supposed 
spirit-forms  have  been  taken.  In  the  autumn  of  1862,  the  "  spirit 
photographs,"  said  to  be  got  through  Mr.  Mumler,  a  Boston 
photographer,  were  a  subject  of  much  controversy.  Of  course, 
the  many  believed  Mr.  Mumler  an  impostor ;  but  no  evidence 
whatever  of  this  was  ever  adduced,  and  now.  after  a  lapse  of 
years,  we  cannot  learn  that  any  one  who  knows  him  personally 
can  harbor  a  doubt  of  his  honesty.  On  the  contrary,  the  testi 
mony  from  friends  and  acquaintances,  familiar  with  his  character 
and  social  position,  is  strongly  in  his  favor.  What  gave  rise  to 
distrust  was  the  fact  that  many  persons  who  sat  for  photographs 
of  some  spirit-friend,  to  accompany  their  own.  would  find,  in 
stead  of  a  likeness  they  could  recognize,  a  figure  that  would  be  a 
puzzle  to  them  and  all  their  acquaintances.  Of  course,  the 
immediate  cry,  in  these  cases,  would  be  "Humbug!"  But 
the  failure  was  no  evidence  whatever  that  the  questionable  figure 
was  not  photographed  on  the  plate  in  some  way  wholly  inexpli 
cable  to  the  operator. 

Mr.  William  Guay,  an  experienced  photographer  from  New 
Orleans,  and  who,  though  a  stranger,  was  admitted  to  scrutinize 
the  whole  process,  reported  favorably  to  Mr.  Mumler's  entire 
sincerity  in  the  matter,  and  satisfied  himself  that  a  second  form 
did  appear  on  the  negative  'without  a  visible  object  to  produce  it. 
Mr.  Mumler  allowed  him  to  superintend  all  the  operations. 
"He  desired  me,"  says  Mr.  Guay,  "to  select  my  glass  out  of  a 
large  number  that  stood  on  the  table,  or  work-bench.  I  picked 


138  PLANCHETTE. 

up  one  from  the  lot,  examined  it,  rubbed  it,  threw  my  breath  on 
it,  and  found  it  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  piece  of  ordinary 
glass,  to  all  appearance  new. 

"  He  insisted  on  my  going  through  the  operation  of  coating, 
silvering,  &c.,  which  I  did,  as  follows  :  Having  the  glass  in  my 
hand,  I  coated  it  with  the  collodion  and  placed  it  in  the  bath, 
previously  examining  the  inside,  or  at  least  looking  into  the 
bath  by  the  light  of  the  lamp.  While  the  plate  was  in  the  bath, 
I  examined  the  plate-holder,  which  stood  beside  the  bath.  When 
the  plate  was  done,  I  took  it  out,  placed  it  in  the  plate-holder, 
and  carried  it  to  the  camera'-stand,  under  the  skylight.  Keeping 
my  eye  constantly  on  it  while  it  was  at  my  feet,  resting  on  the 
camera-stand,  I  examined  the  tube  and  camera-box.  Finding 
every  thing  all  right,  I  took  my  seat  in  such  a  position  as  to 
see  every  thing  going  on.  Being  seated  profile,  I  could,  by 
turning  my  eyes  around,  see  pretty  well  the  background  and  also 
the  camera-box,  Mr.  Mumler  by  it,  and  the  young  man  (his 
assistant)  off  in  the  corner,  I  having  previously  made  sure  that 
there  was  nobody  else  about  beside  us  three." 

The  focus  w^as  adjusted,  the  cloth  removed ;  and  Mr.  Guay  sat, 
hoping  that  the  picture  of  his  departed  wife  "  might  come-on  the 
negative,  standing  in  front  and  by  him."  The  sitting  over,  he 
immediately  passed  to  the  camera-box,  took  out  the  plate-holder, 
and  went  to  the  dark  room,  followed  by  Mr.  Mumler.  Having 
thrown  on  the  developing  solution,  Mr.  Guay  closely  watched 
what  was  coming;  and,  to  his  astonishment,  he  saw  two  pictures 
come  out,  one  of  which  was  a  faint  picture  of  his  wife.  The 
negative  having  dried,  he  varnished  it  and  placed  it  on  the 
shelf. 

On  a  subsequent  day,  he  went  through  the  same  process,  with 
similar  precautions,  and  this  time  silently  wished  that  the 
"spirit  likeness"  might  be  one  of  his  father.  His  wish  was 
answered.  "It  is  impossible,"  says  Mr.  Guay,  "for  Mr. Mumler 
to  have  procured  any  pictures  of  my  wife  and  father.  The 
likeness  of  my  father  is  clear  and  perfect;  that  of  my  wife  is 
not."  Mr.  Guay  says  he  had  much  conversation  with  Mr. 


SPIRIT    PHOTOGRAPHS.  139 

Mumler,  and  could  not  detect  a  single  syllable  suggestive  of 
fraud. 

Professor  W.  D.  Gunning  (1867)  relates  an  instance  in  which 
a  spirit-hand  appeared  on  the  photograph  of  a  young  girl.  He 
says,  "  While  sitting  before  the  camera,  she  was  smitten  with 
partial  blindness.  She  described  it  to  me  as  'a  kind  of  blur 
coming  suddenly  over  her  eyes.'  She  spoke  of  it  to  the  artist, 
who  told  her  '  to  wink  and  sit  still.'  In  developing  the  plate,  he 
noticed  an  imperfection,  but  did  not  observe  it  closely.  He  sat 
the  girl  again,  and  took  a  sheet  of  eight  tintypes.  She  felt  no 
blur  over  her  eyes,  and  there  was  no  blur  on  the  pictures.  The 
artist  now  examined  the  first  sheet,  and  found  hands  on  the  face 
and  neck  of  every  tintype,  eight  in  all  I  I  have  examined  four  of 
these,  and  find  the  hands  in  precisely  the  same  position  on  each 
picture.  Now  the  artist  affirms  that  no  human  being  but  himself 
and  the  girl  was  in  the  room  when  these  pictures  were  taken. 
He  has  no  theory :  he  only  knows  that  these  hands  came  on  the 
picture  through  no  agency  of  his.*  What,  then,  shall  we  say?" 

Professor  Gunning  shows  that  the  theory  that  the  plate  was  an 
old  one,  and  the  hands  had  been  photographed  there  before,  is 
absurd.  "As  well  talk  of  making  an  Iliad  by  throwing  down  a 
ton  of  types  at  random !  "  Other  explanations  he  rejects  as 
equally  unsatisfactory,- and  says,  "  The  best  part  of  my  life  has 
been  spent  in  the  study  and  interpretation  of  science;  and,  in  all 
humility,  I  should  be  competent  to  weigh  and  interpret  facts  so 
simple  as  these.  And,  to  my  mind,  this  picture  is  a  fact  quite  as 
important  to  science  as  an  Arrrazonian  fish.  I  will  not  cross  an 
ocean  for  a  new  bug,  and  cry  '  Humbug ! '  to  a  fact  like  this  at 
my  very  door.  .  .  . 

"  In  paintings  of  the  creation,  done  in  the  Middle  Ages,  you 
will  see  the  hand  of  Deity  moving  over  chaos;  only  the  hand, 
for  clouds  and  darkness  veil  His  form.  Belief  in  the  Infinite 
Being  and  the  life  eternal  was  nourished  and  sustained  in  our 
fathers,  by  art.  And  now  art  comes  to  us  even  more  divine  ;  for 
she  is  Nature's  own,  painting  with  sunbeams.  And  our  loved 
ones  now  and  then  lift  the  veil,  and  reach  forth  a  hand  from  out 


140  PLANCHETTE. 

that  world  of  light  and  beauty,  —  from  that  world  a  hand  clothed 
upon  with  elements  from  this ;  and  art,  in  her  new  era,  minis 
ters  again  to  our  hope  of  immortality." 

Of  the  numerous  speaking  mediums,  the  writing,  the  drawing, 
the  musical  (such  as  Blind  Tom,  the  colored  boy),  the  healing, 
the  letter-reading,  &c.,  we  have  left  ourselves  little  room  to 
speak  in  this  place.  Many  of  the  phenomena  through  these 
various  mediums  are  quite  as  wonderful  and  significant  as  those 
we  have  described  ;  but  as  they  are  more  open  to  partial  explana 
tion  by  causes  not  outside  of  the  individual,  we  shall  not  do 
more  than  to  refer  to  them  at  present. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   SEERESS  OF  PREVORST.  —  KERNER.-  STILLING. 

"  I  gaze  aloof 

On  the  tissued  roof, 
Where  time  and  space  are  the  warp  and  woof, 

Which  the  King  of  kings 

As  a  curtain  flings 
O'er  the  dreadfulness  of  eternal  things."  — /?<?».  Thos.  Whitchead. 

THE  most  remarkable  of  the  phenomena  we  have  recorded 
had  their  counterpart  in  those  known  in  the  little  village 
of  Prevorst,  amid  the  mountains  of  Northern  Wurtemberg, 
twenty-two  jrears  before  the  Fox  family  first  heard  the  rappings 
at  Hydesville. 

Frederica  Hauffe",  the  seeress,  was  born  in  Prevorst,  in  the  year 
1801.  She  died  in  1829.  "  She  lived,"  writes  the  late  Margaret 
Fuller,  "but  nine-and-twenty  years;  yet  in  that  time  had  trav 
ersed  a  larger  portion  of  the  field  of  thought  than  all  her  race 
before  in  their  many  and  long  lives." 

The  biography  of  the  seeress,  published  in  1829,  was  from  the 
pen  of  Justinus  Kerner,  chief  physician  at  Weinsberg,  a  man  of 
unquestionable  ability  and  stainless  integrity.  His  prqclama- 
tion  of  the  phenomena,  and  the  spiritual  facts  developed  in  the 
life  of  his  subject,  brought  upon  him  a  storm  of  ridicule  and 
denunciation,  from  which  there  are  few  men  who  would  not  have 
shrunk.  He  met  it  bravely,  and  maintained  his  ground  with  a 
steadiness  which  no  sneers  from  the  savans  and  wits  among  his 
contemporaries  could  impair;  and  at  last  his  veracity  as  a 
biographer,  his  philosophical  sagacity,  and  his  skill  as  a  cool 


142  PLANCHETTE. 

observer  of  facts  have  been  completely  vindicated  by  the  events 
of  the  last  twenty  years. 

After  her  marriage,  in  her  I9th  year,  to  Herr  Hauffe,  a  worthy 
man,  the  seeress,  who  was  of  a  remarkably  delicate  organization, 
became  subject  to  spasmodic  attacks,  and  would  often  pass  into  a 
somnambulic  state.  She  at  last  became  so  sensitive  to  magnetic 
influences  that  even  the  nails  in  the  walls  had  to  be  removed. 
Articles,  the  near  neighborhood  of  which  to  her  person  was 
found  injurious,  would  be  taken  away  by  an  unseen  hand.  Such 
objects  as  a  silver  spoon  would  be  perceptibly  conveyed  from  her 
hand  to  a  more  convenient  distance,  and  laid  on  a  plate ;  not 
thrown,  for  the  things  would  pass  slowly  through  the  air  as  if 
borne  by  invisible  agency. 

In  1826,  Dr.  Kerner  took  charge  of  Mrs.  Hauffe.  He  soon 
found  that  drugs  had  no  effect  upon  her.  Even  the  homoeo 
pathic  pharmacopoeia  was  discarded.  The  seeress,  in  her  clair 
voyant  state,  prescribed  for  herself  better  than  any  physician 
could  have  done. 

.The  rapping  phenomena  were  common  in  her  presence.  Ker 
ner  says,  "  As  I  had  been  told  by  her  parents,  a  year  before  her 
father's  death,  that,  at  the  period  of  her  early  magnetic  state, 
she  was  able  to  make  herself  heard  by  her  friends,  as  they  lay 
in  bed  at  night,  in  the  same  village,  but  in  other  houses,  by  a 
knocking,  —  as  is  said  of  the  dead,  —  I  asked  her,  in  her  som 
nambulic  state,  whether  she  was  able  to  do  so  now,  and  at 
what  distance?  She  answered,  that  she  would  sometime  do  it; 
that  to  the  spirit  space  was  nothing.  Sometime  after  this,  as  we 
were  going  to  bed,  —  my  children  and  servants  being  already 
asleep,  — we  heard  a  knocking,  as  if  in  the  air,  over  our  heads. 
There  were  six  knocks,  at  intervals  of  half  a  minute.  It  was  a 
hollow,  yet  clear  sound,  soft,  but  distinct.  We  were  certain 
there  was  no  one  near  us,  nor  over  us,  from  whom  it  could  pro 
ceed  ;  and  our  house  stands  by  itself.  On  the  following  evening, 
when  she  was  asleep,  when  we  had  mentioned  the  knocking  to 
nobody  whatever,  she  asked  me  whether  she  should  soon 
knock" to  us  again;  which,  as  she  said  it  was  hurtful  to  her.  I 
declined." 


THE    UAPPINGS    AT    PREVORST.  143 

And  again  he  tells  us,  "In  my  own  house,  I  can  bear  witness 
not  only  to  the  sounds  of  throwing,  knocking,  &c. ;  but  a  small 
table  was  flung  into  a  room  without  any  visible  means ;  the 
pewter  plates  in  the  kitchen  were  hurled  about,  in  the  hearing  of 
the  whole  house,  — circumstances  laughable  to  others,  and  which 
would  be  so  to  me,  had  I  not  witnessed  them  in  my  sound  mind ; 
but  which  become  doubly  significant,  when  I  compare  them  to 
many  accounts  I  have  heard  of  the  like  nature,  where  there  was 
no  somnambule  in  question." 

Here  we  have  phenomena  precisely  like  those  with  which  the 
records  of  witchcraft,  and  the  accounts  of  haunted  houses,  are 
filled. 

Speaking  of  a  spirit  who  frequently  came  to  her,  Kerner 
says,  "His  appearance  was  always  preceded  by  knockings ; 
however  suddenly  a  person  flew  to  the  place  to  try  and  detect 
whence  the  noise  proceeded,  they  could  see  nothing.  If  they 
went  outside,  the  knocking  was  immediately  heard  inside,  and 
vice-versa.  However  securely  they  closed  the  kitchen-door,  nay, 
if  they  tied  it  with  cords,  it  was  found  open  in  the  morning;  and 
though  they  frequently  rushed  to  the  spot  on  hearing  it  open  or 
shut,  they  never  could  find  anybody.  Sounds  as  of  breaking 
wood,  of  pewter  plates  being  knocked  together,  and  the  crack 
ling  of  a  fire  in  the  oven,  were  also  commonly  heard ;  but  the 
cause  of  them  could  not  be  discovered.  A  sound  resembling 
that  of  a  triangle  was  also  frequently  heard ;  and  not  only  Mrs. 
Hauffe",  but  others  of  her  family,  often  saw  a  spectral  female 
form.  The  noises  in  the  house  became  at  length  so  remarkable, 
that  her  father  declared  he  could  stay  in  it  no  longer;  and  they 
were  not  only  audible  to  everybody  in  it,  but  to  the  passengers 
in  the  street,  who  stopped  to  listen  to  them,  as  they  passed." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Hermann  wrote  several  questions  for  a  spirit 
who  visited  Mrs.  Haufte"  to  answer.  From  the  time  these  were 
shown  to  the  spirit,  Mr.  Hermann  "  found  himself  awakened  at  a 
particular  hour  every  night,  and  felt  immediately  an  earnest  dis 
position  to  prayer.  There  was  always,  at  the  same  time,  a 
knocking  in  his  room,  sometimes  on  the  floor,  and  sometimes 


144  PLANCHETTE. 

on  the  walls,  which  his  wife  heard  as  well  as  himself;  but  they 
saw  nothing." 

Several  experiments  were  made  to  test  the  reality  of  the  seer- 
ess's  spirit-vision.  Kerner  relates  that  "An  acquaintance  of 
Mrs.  Hauffe's  who  sometimes  visited  her,  one  day  informed  us 
that  a  friend  of  hers  was  dead.  This  person  had  promised  her 
that  he  would  appear  to  her  after  death,  and  we  consequently 
hourly  expected  to  learn  that  she  had  seen  his  ghost;  but  days, 
weeks  and  months  passed  without  any  such  event  happening. 
Then  the  acquaintance  owned,  that,  not  believing  in  the  reality  of 
these  apparitions,  he  had  said  it  for  an  experiment;  the  person 
was  not  dead.  Another  experiment  was  made  as  follows  :  Mrs. 
Haufte  was  frequently  visited  by  the  spectre  of  a  deceased  person, 
of  whom  she  had  never  seen  or  heard  any  thing  whatever.  A 
friend  bade  her  learn  of  this  ghost  the  period  of  his  birth,  which 
neither  she  nor  I  knew.  This  was  done ;  but  when  our  friend 
made  inquiry  of  his  relations  whether  the  time  mentioned  was 
correct,  they  said,  'No.'  This  our  friend  wrote  to  us;  and  I 
read  the  letter  to  Mrs.  Haufte,  advancing  it  as  a  strong  argument 
against  the  reality  of  the  apparitions.  She  answered,  unmoved, 
that  she  would  inquire  again.  She  did  so,  and  the  answer  was 
the  same.  I  wrote  again  to  my  friend,  saying  so,  and  begging 
him  to  ascertain  more  particularly  the  period  of  the  birth  in 
question ;  and,  on  doing  this,  he  found  that  the  relations  had 
been  in  error ;  the  time  had  been  correctly  named." 

He  adds,  "I  could  relate  many  other  equally  remarkable  facts, 
but  that  I  should  be  encroaching  too  much  on  the  privacy  of  the 
parties  concerned."  He  details  twenty-two  facts  that  occurred  at 
Weinsberg  in  evidence  of  the  presence  and  operations  of  spirits. 
Concerning  these  he  says,  "  Of  the  greatest  number,  I  was  my 
self  a  witness;  and  what  I  took  upon  the  credit  of  others,  I  most 
curiously  investigated,  and  anxiously  sought,  if  by  any  possi 
bility  a  natural  explanation  of  them  could  be  found;  but  in 
vain."  These  facts  are  further  corroborated  by  councillors,  pro 
fessors,  and  other  official  persons. 

Mrs.  Haunt's  statement  concerning  the  spirits  who  appeared 


H5 

to  her  is  interesting.  Her  words  are,  "I  see  many  with  whom 
I  come  into  no  approximation,  and  others  who  come  to  me,  with 
whom  I  converse,  and  who  remain  near  me  for  months :  I  see 
them  at  various  times  by  day  and  night,  whether  I  am  alone  or 
in  company.  I  am  perfectly  awake  at  the  time,  and  am  not  sen 
sible  of  any  circumstance  or  sensation  that  calls  them  up.  I  see 
them  alike  whether  I  am  strong  or  weak,  plethoric  or  in  a  state 
of  inanition,  glad  or  sorrowful,  amused  or  otherwise  ;  and  I  can 
not  dismiss  them.  Not  that  they  are  always  with  me;  but  they 
come  at  their  own  pleasure,  like  mortal  visitors,  and  equally 
whether  I  am  in  a  spiritual  or  corporeal  state  at  the  time.  When 
I  am  in  my  calmest  and  most  healthy  sleep,  they  awaken  me  : 
I  know  not  how;  but  I  feel  that  I  am  awakened  by  them,  and 
that  I  should  have  slept  on  had  they  not  come  to  my  bedside. 
I  observe  frequently  that,  when  a  ghost  visits  me  by  night,  those 
who  sleep  in  the  same  room  with  me  are,  by  their  dreams,  made 
aware  of  its  presence :  they  speak  afterwards  of  the  apparition 
they  saw  in  their  dream,  although  I  have  not  breathed  a  syllable 
on  the  subject  to  them.  Whilst  the  ghosts  are  with  me,  I  see 
and  hear  every  thing  around  me  as  usual,  and  can  think  of  other 
subjects ;  and  though  I  can  avert  my  eyes  from  them,  it  is 
difficult  for  me  to  do  it :  I  feel  in  a  sort  of  magnetic  rapport 
with  them.  They  appear  to  me  like  a  thin  cloud,  that  one  could 
see  through ;  which,  however,  I  cannot  do.  I  never  observed 
that  they  threw  any  shadow.  I  see  them  more  clearly  by  sun  or 
moonlight  than  in  the  dark;  but  whether  I  could  see  them  in 
absolute  darkness,  I  do  not  know.  If  any  object  comes  between 
me  and  them,  they  are  hidden  from  me.  I  cannot  see  them  with 
closed  eyes,  nor  when  I  turn  my  face  from  them." 

"  Here  then,"  says  Mr.  Shorter,  in  his  review  of  these  occur 
rences,  "  nearly  forty  years  ago,  in  the  life  of  this  poor,  untaught 
peasant  woman,  we  have  brought  together  those  modes  of  spirit 
manifestation  which  call  forth  so  much  denial  when  their 
occurrence  at  the  present  day  is  affirmed;  manifestations  in 
dream,  vision,  voice,  touch,  writing,  drawing,  presentiment,  pre 
diction,  apparitions,  second-sight,  clairvoyance,  crystal-seeing, 


146  PLANCHETTK. 

movements  of  objects,  rappings,  trance-speaking,  thought-read 
ing,  and  the  spirit-language." 

According  to  Kerner,  Eschenmajer,  Schubert,  Gorres,  and 
others,  who  observed  Madame  Hauffe  long  and  carefully,  she 
seemed  to  be  more  in  the  spiritual  world  than  in  the  physical. 
"  She  was,"  says  Kerner,  '•  more  than  half  a  spirit,  and  belonged 
to  a  world  of  spirits  :  she  belonged  to  a  world  after  death,  and 
was  more  than  half  dead.  In  her  sleep  only  was  she  truly  awake. 
Nay,  so  loose  was  the  connection  between  soul  and  body  that, 
like  Swedenborg,  she  often  went  out  of  the  body,  and  could 
contemplate  it  separately." 

Like  many  other  clairvoyants  she  could,  in  her  somnambulic 
state,  read  anything  laid  on  the  pit  of  her  stomach,  and  inclosed 
between  other  sheets  of  blank  paper.  Her  perception  of  differ 
ent  sensations  from  plants,  precious  stones,  and  other  minerals, 
was  repeatedly  tried  by  placing  them  in  her  hands,  when  she 
would  always  ascribe  the  same  property  to  the  same  thing.  She 
was  at  times  lifted  into  the  air,  as  has  been  the  case  with  Mr, 
Home,  Miss  Lord,  and  other  modern  mediums,  as  well  as  with 
many  saints  and  devotees  of  all  countries  and  times. 

Science  in  its  progress  is  daily  supplying,  in  connection  with 
these  and  kindred  facts,  many  new  analogies.  "However  in 
comprehensible,"  says  Friedrich  von  Meyer,  "a  world  of  spirits 
may  be  to  the  natural  reason,  the  progress  of  our  knowledge  of 
the  physical  world  and  of  the  extraordinary  nature  of  man  is 
every  day  rendering  it  more  comprehensible." 

Kerner,  who  died  in  1859,  ^u^  °f  years  and  honors,  was  a 
writer  of  no  ordinary  force  and  culture.  In  the  spirit  with 
which  he  handles  his  assailants,  he  often  reminds  us  of  that 
matchless  master  of  controversial  weapons,  Lessing. 

In  his  "  Leaves  from  Prevorst,"  published  subsequently  to  the 
seeress's  death,  Kerner,  after  relating  some  striking  cases  of 
spirit-agency,  of  recent  occurrence,  through  others  than  the 
seeress,  says  that  any  person  wishing  to  convince  himself  of  one 
of  them  "  has  only  to  make  the  little  journey  from  Stuttgart  to 
Oberstenfeld." 


A    PICTURE    FOR    ALL    TIME.  147 

"  But,"  adds  Kerner,  with  a  fine  irony,  "  it  is  much  more  con 
venient  to  sit  at  jour  writing-table  by  the  fireside,  and  decide  on 
such  things  without  seeing  them." 

His  picture  of  the  class  of  critics  who  pronounce  judgment  on 
facts  in  this  way  is  one  for  all  time.  Some  of  these  philosophers, 
indeed  not  a  few  may  be  found  in  our  own  country,  mounted 
on  reviewers'  stools,  and  sending  forth  their  oracular  criticisms, 
weekly  or  monthly,  on  matters  they  know  nothing  about,  in  any 
practical  or  experimental  sense. 

"None  of  those  gentlemen,"  writes  Kerner,  "who  call  them 
selves  the  friends  of  truth,  set  so  much  value  upon  it,  as  to 
move  a  single  foot  over  the  Resenbach  :  no  one  takes  the  least 
trouble  to  prove  these  things  at  the  time,  and  on  the  spot.  For 
many  years  the  extraordinary  manifestations  of  the  Seeress  of 
Prevorst  were  made  public;  but  none  of  the  gentlemen  who 
.  now,  all  at  once,  pretend  that  they  would  have  liked  so  very 
much  to  have  seen  her,  and  who  sit  and  write  whole  blue-books 
about  her,  ever  took  a  moment's  trouble,  whilst  she  lived,  to  see, 
to  hear,  and  to  test  her. 

"At  their  writing-tables  they  continued  sitting,  but  professed 
to  have  seen,  heard,  and  proved  every  thing,  —  much  more  than 
the  quiet,  earnest,  and  deeply  thinking  psychologist,  Eschen- 
meyer,  who  did  take  the  trouble  to  examine  and  prove  every 
thing  at  the  time  and  on  the  spot,  for  the  truth's  sake,  shunning 
no  journey,  when  necessary,  in  the  severest  cold  of  winter. 
Only  by  such  a  method  can  such  things  be  probed  to  the  truth : 
the  learned  way  of  knowing  and  speculating  by  the  pounce-box 
proves  nothing. 

"These  gentlemen  ivho  construct  their  heaven  and  their  hell 
according  to  their  own  wishes,  and  push  the  love  and  grace  of 
God  before  them  in  any  direction  that  is  convenient  to  them, 
rather  than  give  themselves  up  to  believe  what,  from  their  pride 
and  sensual  indulgences,  is  most  unpleasant  and  repugnant  to 
them,  labor  hard,  by  all  the  arts  of  intellectual  acuteness  and 
of  dialectics,  to  persuade  themselves,  though  it  be  but  for  the 
brief  moment  of  this  life,  that  the  future  inevitably  awaiting 


148  PLANCHETTE. 

them,  will  correspond  with  the  wishes  and  feelings  which  exist 
in  this  body. 

"Probably  it  is  very  difficult  for  the  pride  of  man  to  believe 
that  he  shall,  one  day,  come  into  a  condition  where  the  noth 
ingness  of  his  inner  being  shall  issue  to  the  light;  when  the 
mask  shall  fall,  under  which  he  has  endeavored  here  to  conceal 
himself,  and  to  parade  himself  complacently  in  the  public  eye. 
It  is  difficult,  too,  for  the  so-called  intellectual*  to  believe  in 
spirits  that  do  not  show  themselves  spiritual.  According  to  them, 
every  man  after  his  death  should  at  once  arrive  at  the  fntel- 
lectual  knowledge  and  eminence  of  a  Hegel.  But  now  come 
spirits,  trifling  and  foolish,  and  spirits  like  those  who  came  to 
the  Seeress  of  Prevorst;  who  longed  after  Scripture  texts  and 
hymns ;  at  the  name  of  Jesus  became  clearer,  and  asserted  that 
only  in  the  name  of  Jesus  can  rest  and  joy  be  found.  In  such 
spirits  it  is  impossible  for  the  learned  and  intellectual  to  believe ; 
and  such  apparitions  are  to  them  only  the  product  of  a  sick 
fancy. 

"  And  spirits  now  come,  who  are  much  poorer  and  more  desti 
tute  than  spirits  in  this  life  ever  showed  themselves,  so  that  to 
our  critics  such  a  spirit- world  must  appear  unworthy  of  God ; 
and  if  they  could  convince  themselves  that  such  a  spirit-world  did 
exist,  they  would  doubt  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator :  since  spir 
its,  they  think,  should  either  not  show  themselves  at  all,  or  in  a 
manner  to  do  honor  to  their  Maker.  This  signifies  nothing, 
however  ;  for  God  and  Nature  will  have  the  mastery  !  f 

"Let  us  suppose,  for  a  moment,  that  those  creatures  on  our 

*  Witness  the  silly  remarks  of  the  "London  Saturday  Review"  of  Dec.  17,  1862, 
which  says,  "  If  this  is  the  spirit-world,  and  if  this  is  spiritual  intelligence,  and  if  all  that 
spirits  can  do  is  to  whisk  about  in  dark  rooms,  and  pinch  people's  legs  under  the  table, 
and  play  'Home,  Sweet  Home,  on  the  accordion,  and  kiss  folks  in  the  dark,  and 
paint  baby  pictures,  and  write  such  sentimental  namby  pamby  as  Mr.  Coleman  copies 
out  from  their  dictation,  it  is  much  better  to  be  a  respectable  pig  and  accept  annihila 
tion  than  to  be  cursed  with  such  an  immortality  as  this."  Kerner  anticipates  and 
answers  the  sneers  of  witlings  like  this. 

t  Bacon  says,  "  The  voice  of  nature  will  consent,  whether  the  voice  of  man  do 
or  not." 


KERNER'S  REPLY  TO  THE  CRITICS.  149 

earth,  which  constitute  a  transition  class,  and  find  themselves,  as 
it  were,  in  an  intermediate  state,  as  seals,  bats,  megatherians, 
were  so  formed  that  they  could  only  be  seen  by  men*of  a  pecul 
iar  condition  of  nerves,  and  by  others  not  at  all,  the  latter 
would  protest  that  no  such  creatures  existed,  or  could  possibly 
exist.  They  would  exclaim  excitedly,  'A  creature  half-mouse, 
half-bird,  a  creature  half-calf,  half-fish,  would  be  unworthy  of 
the  Creator,  who  never  brings  forth  helpless,  crippled,  half- 
existences.  Such  things,  they  would  say,  are  the  mere  births  of 
a  sick  fancy ;  and,  were  they  really  existent,  which,  however,  it 
would  be  the  height  of  folly  to  believe,  would  make  one  doubt 
the  wisdom  of  the  Creator.'  That  is  precisely  what  the  critics 
say  of  what  they  call  low  and  undignified  spirits. 

"  But  these  creatures,  now  mentioned,  do  exist  at  this  very 
time,  my  beloved  !  spite  of  thy  belief  and  thy  critical  judgment; 
and  thou  shalt  not,  therefore,  doubt  the  wisdom  of  their  Creator, 
but  shalt  fall  down,  and,  with  all  humility,  shalt  worship  and 
say,  '  What  I  here  in  the  dust,  with  the  eye  of  a  mole,  regard 
as  so  great  a  disharmony,  will  hereafter,  when  the  scales  fall 
from  my  mole's-eye,  appear  as  harmony.' 

"And  so  is  it  also  with  those  wretched  spirits!  Beloved! 
they  are  there !  However  thou  mayest,  in  thy  notions  of  the 
Creator,  consider  them  so  unworthy ;  however,  in  thy  intellectual 
wealth,  mayest  struggle  against  them  in  thy  spirit,  —  there  they 
are,  contrary  to  all  the  systems  of  such  learned,  acute,  and  intel 
lectual  men !  There  they  are  in  truth,  as  real  as  the  helpless 
caterpillars,  out  of  which  slowly  the  butterflies  shall  unfold 
themselves.  There  they  are,  and  you  cannot  hinder  them ; 
cannot  do  otherwise  than  disbelieve  in  them,  and,  disbelieving, 
fight  against  them  with  all  your  dialectic  arts,  ready-writings, 
wit,  and  acuteness,  but  ivhich.  in  fact,  does  not  at  all  annihilate 
this  spirit-world ;  but  it  goes  on  its  way,  troubling  itself  .not  in 
the  least  about  all  your  intellectual  skirmishing. 

"  On  this  point  an  able  writer  has  said  already,  '  Suppose  a 
critic  to  write  an  article  that  turned  out  and  was  decided  by  the 
public  to  be  a  poor  affair,  are  we  to  consider  it  unworthy  of 


150  PLANCH ETTE. 

the  Creator  to  have  made  such  a  "wretched  stick  "?  And  suppose 
this  critic  to  have  suddenly  departed  into  the  other  world,  with 
out  having1  got  any  more  sense,  are  we  to  doubt  the  wisdom  of 
the  Creator,  if  the  man  should  manifest  himself  here  as  a  very 
paltry  ghost  indeed?'  It  may,  however,  be  answered,  by  some 
wise  one,  that  every  thing  should  in  this  world  either  not  exist, 
or  exist  as  a  credit  to  its  Maker.  This,  indeed,  would  be  very 
praiseworthy  and  agreeable ;  but  the  courteous  reader  knows 
very  well  that  the  image  of  God  in  this  world  often  reduces  him 
self  to  a  most  hideous  and  foolish  caricature  of  a  man ;  but  does 
any  body  on  that  account  doubt  of  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator? 
Tes :  let  us  look  into  the  mirror,  and  I  am  afraidive  shall  find  our 
selves  very  much  unlike  the  original  image  of  God" 

Kerner  then  gives  a  series  of  well-attested  cases  of  the  appari 
tions  of  such  distorted  and  degraded  spirits,  and  adds,  "It  is  an 
incontestable  truth  which  Jacob  Bohme  ably  demonstrates,  and 
which  the  Seeress  of  Prevorst  confirms;  namely,  that  'The 
body  being  now  broken  up  and  dying,  the  soul  retains  her  like 
ness  as  the  spirit  of  her  will.  Now  is  it  away  from  the  body; 
for  in  dying  there  is  a  separation.  Now  the  likeness  appears  in 
and  amid  the  things  which  the  soul  had  here  imbibed,  which 
she  had  infected  herself  with,  which  she  allowed  to  build  them 
selves  up  in  her,  since  she  has  the  same  well-spring  in  her. 
That  which  she  loved  here,  which  was  her  treasure,  and  into 
which  the  spirit  of  her  will  entered,  is  now  expressed  in  her, 
and  becomes  her  spiritual  image,  not  as  a  reminiscence,  but  as 
an  actual  condition.'" 

Let  us  hope  that  the  day  is  near  when  a  more  reverent  atten 
tion  will  be  lent  to  facts  which  are  the  key  to  much  that  con 
founds  our  scrutiny  in  our  studies  of  human  nature. 

Johann  Jung-Stilling,  born  in  Westphalia,  in  Germany,  1740, 
was,  like  Kerner,  a  devoted  Spiritualist.  His  "Theory  of  Pneu- 
matology,"  translated  into  English  by  Samuel  Jackson,  was  re- 
published  in  New  York,  in  1851,  with  an  introduction  from  the 
pen  of  our  revered  friend,  the  late  George  Bush,  whom  it  was  our 
fortune  to  introduce  to  some  of  the  phenomena  of  somnambu- 


STILLING.  151 

lism,  which  we  were  investigating  at  the  time.  Stilling  appears 
to  have  been  well  versed  in  the  facts  which  the  manifestations 
of  1848  brought  so  prominently  before  public  attention.  The 
phenomena  of  rapping  and  knocking  he  frequently  notices,  as 
modes  of  spirits  announcing  themselves.  He  was  convinced  of 
the  existence  of  the  spiritual  body.  "There  is  a  natural  body, 
and  there  is  a  spiritual  body,"  says  St.  Paul ;  ts  NOW,  not  is 

tO  BE. 

Stilling  was  unconsciously  a  "  medium."  He  announced, 
more  than  ten  weeks  before  the  occurrence,  the  tragic  fate  of 
Lavater,  who  was  shot  by  a  soldier  in  Zurich,  in  1799.  Stilling 
wrote  seasonably  to  Hess,  and  begged  him  to  communicate  the 
prediction  to  Lavater.  The  warning  seems  to  have  been  un 
heeded.  Stilling's  presentiments  of  evil  were  sometimes  very 
strong,  and  as  unerring  as  they  were  strong.  In  his  "  Pneuma- 
tology,"  he  has  collected  a  great  number  of  authentic  narratives 
of  apparitions  and  other  phenomena  indicative  of  spiritual 
powers.  The  "many-sided"  Goethe  was  Stiiling's  fellow- 
student  at  Strasburg,  and  became  strongly  attached  to  him. 
"  I  urged  him,"  says  Goethe,  "  to  write  his  life  ;  and  he  promised 
to  do  so."  The  promise  was  fulfilled. 

Stilling  was  well  acquainted  with  the  phenomena  of  animal 
magnetism.  His  experiments  convinced  him,  as  our  own  long 
since  convinced  us,  that  the  soul  does  not  require  the  outward 
organs  of  sense  in  order  to  be  able  to  see,  hear,  smell,  taste,  and 
feel,  in  a  much  more  perfect  state.*  "Animal  magnetism,"  he 
says,  "proves  that  we  have  an  inward  man,  a  soul,  which  is 
constituted  of  the  divine  spark,  the  immortal  spirit,  possessing 
reason  and  will,  and  of  a  luminous  body,  which  is  inseparable 


"  The  vision  that  can  see  through  brick  walls,"  says  Professor  William  Denton 
(1868),  "and  distinguish  objects  miles  away,  does  not  belong  to  the  body:  it  must 
belong  to  the  spirit.  Hundreds  of  times  have  I  had  the  evidence  that  the  spirit  can 
smell,  hear,  and  see,  and  has  powers  of  locomotion.  As  the  fin  in  the  unhatched  fish 
indicates  the  water  in  which  he  may  one  day  swim,  as  the  wing  of  the  unfledged  bird 
denotes  the  air  in  which  it  may  one  day  fly,  so  these  powers  in  man  indicate  that 
mighty  realm  which  the  spirit  is  fitted  eternally  to  enjoy." 


152  PLANCHKTTE. 

from  it.  Light,  electric,  magnetic,  galvanic  matter,  and  ether, 
appear  to  be  all  one  and  the  same  substance,  under  different 
modifications.  The  light,  or  ether,  is  the  element  which  con 
nects  soul  and  body  and  the  spiritual  and  material  world  to 
gether. 

"The  ideas  we  form  of  the  creation,  and  all  the  science  and 
knowledge  resulting  from  them,  depend  entirely  upon  our 
organization.  God  views  every  thing  as  it  is  in  itself.  For.  if 
he  viewed  things  in  space,  and  as  no  space  can  be  conceived 
as  really  existing  unless  limited,  the  views  which  God  takes 
would  therefore  also  be  limited,  which  is  impossible;  conse 
quently  no  space  exists  out  of  us  in  nature,  but  our  ideas  of  it 
arise  solely  from  our  organization.  If  God  viewed  objects  in 
succession  and  rotation,  he  would  exist  in  time,  and  thus  again 
be  limited.  Now,  as  this  is  impossible,  time  is  therefore  also  a 
mode  of  thinking  peculiar  to  finite  capacities,  and  not  any  thing 
true  or  real." 

From  these  principles,  Stilling  arrives  at  the  opinion  that, 
since  time  and  space  are  only  modes  of  thinking  suited  to  our 
present  state,  it  is  impossible  that  rational  inferences,  though 
mathematically  just,  can  serve  to  guide  us  into  the  truths  of  the 
invisible  world,  when  their  premises  are  founded  on  modes  of 
thinking  adapted  to  the  visible  world,  but  excluding  operations 
from  the  invisible. 

Perhaps  this  theory  may  explain  why  natural  science  makes 
such  blunders  in  its  attempts  to  deal  with  the  recent  phe 
nomena. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SOMNAMBULISM,   CLAIRVOYANCE,  ANIMAL  MAGNETISM. 

"  Shut  your  eyes,  and  you  will  see."  —  Joubert. 

"  Whereas  the  atheists  impute  the  origin  of  these  things  to  men's  mistaking  both 
their  dreams  and  waking  fancies  for  real  visions  and  sensations,  they  do  hereby  plainly 
contradict  one  main  fundamental  principle  of  their  own  philosophy,  that  sense  is  the 
only  ground  of  certainty  and  the  criterion  of  all  truth."  —  Cudworth. 

IN  the  face  of  the  opposing  protestations  of  a  negative  mate 
rialism,  there  is  one  great  fact  established  by  the  positive 
testimony  of  the  past  and  of  our  own  age ;  this,  namely,  that 
there  are  and  have  been  such  individuals  as  seers,  somnambu 
lists,  mediums,  exhibiting  powers  which  wholly  transcend  those 
of  our  mortal  senses,  and  who  must  derive  such  powers  either 
from  spiritual  faculties  of  their 'own,  superseding  the  physical 
and  normal,  or  from  communication  with  spiritual  forces  and 
intelligences  external  to  themselves.  The  manifestations  upon 
which  our  convictions  of  this  fact  are  based  are  of  daily  occur 
rence,  and  such  as  may  be  tested  by  all  who  will  take  a  little 
trouble  and  exercise  a  little  patience. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago,  by  a  series  of  experiments  which 
extended  over  a  period  of  two  years,  we  satisfied  ourselves  of 
the  facts  of  animal  magnetism,  or  mesmerism,  including  the 
higher  phenomena  of  lucid  somnambulism.  Our  opportunities 
of  investigation  were  of  daily  occurrence,  and  such  as  to. make 
imposture  impracticable.  We  made  many  observations  of  high 
psychological  significance,  as  we  believe,  confirming  most  of  the 
accounts  of  similar  experiences  by  Puysegur,  De  Leuze,  Dupotet, 
Chauncy  Hare  Townshend,  and  others. 


154  PLANCHETTE. 

The  interest  of  these  observations  has  been,  to  a  great  extent, 
merged  in  the  more  comprehensive  generalizations  of  modern 
Spiritualism,  including  the  phenomena  of  animal  magnetism,  as 
well  as  of  witchcraft  and  sorcery,  and  thus  showing  them  all  to 
be  expressions  of  one  great  spiritual  or  psjrchical  fact. 

Moreover,  many  of  the  most  surprising  phenomena  of  animal 
magnetism,  though  ridiculed  and  denied  for  a  long  time  by  the 
scientific  world,  are  now  admitted  by  the  leading  physiologists 
of  the  day.  Science  is  just  beginning  to  change  its  attitude  of 
angry  contempt  for  the  less  unbecoming  position  of  inquiry  and 
attention.  One  has  only  to  read  the  medical  and  physiological 
writings  of  Dr.  Carpenter,  his  admissions  on  the  subject  of  som 
nambulism,  of  brain  action  without  consciousness,  and  other 
unexplained  mysteries,  to  be  satisfied  on  this  point;  for  Dr.  Car 
penter  now  represents  the  most  advanced  school  of  England  in 
his  department  of  physiology,  and  few  equally  high  contempo 
rary  authorities  can  be  named. 

It  is  true  that  some  of  the  more  surprising  facts  of  clairvoy 
ance  are  still  kept  at  a  distance,  on  probation,  even  by  Dr.  Car 
penter;  but  they  are  no  longer  treated  with  that  disdainful 
vituperation  or  easy  indifference  which  the  magnates  of  science 
observed  towards  them  up  to  the  year  1856. 

The  phenomena  of  lucid  somnambulism  are  a  constant  offence 
and  stumbling-block  to  the  modern  materialistic  school,  of 
which  Moleschott,  Vogt,  Feuerbach,  and  Biichner  are  active 
representatives.  With  the  asperity  of  partisanship,  these  able 
writers  deny  all  evidences  of  a  psychical  nature  in  man,  and 
seem  to  take  it  as  a  personal  affront  if  we  credit  them  with 
immortal  souls. 

"It  may  appear  singular,"  says  Dr.  Buchner,  "that  at  all 
times  those  individuals  were  the  most  zealous  for  a  personal 
continuance  after  death,  whose  souls  were  scarcely  worthy  of 
such  a  careful  preservation." 

This  modest  philosopher  would  seem  to  look  upon  the 
Augustines,  Origens,  Pascals,  Johnsons,  and  Goethes  of  the  hu 
man  race  as  small  specimens,  compared  with  Dr.  Buchner! 


THE    BELIEF    IN    IMMORTALITY.  155 

Ludwig  Feuerbach  (born  1804)  has  the  following  remark: 
"  No  one  who  has  eyes  to  see  can  fail  to  remark,  that  the  belief 
in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  has  long  been  effaced  from  ordi 
nary  life,  and  that  it  only  exists  in  the  subjective  imagination  of 
individuals,  still  very  numerous." 

That  the  belief  in  immortality  has  been  largely  effaced  from 
the  ordinary  life  of  many  educated  persons,  is,  we  fear,  but  too 
true;  but  this  is  owing,  in  a  great  degree,  to  the  circumstance, 
that  the  class  of  facts  which  modern  Spiritualism  has  re-verified 
has  been  excluded,  by  false  theories  and  an  imperious  ignorance, 
from  scientific  consideration.  Belief  in  immortality  was  more 
general  in  ancient  times  than  now,  if  we  except  the  rapidly 
increasing  body  of  Spiritualists.  Even  so  good  a  Catholic  as 
Frederick  Schlegel  admits  this.  "Among  those  nations  of 
primitive  antiquity,"  he  says,  "  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  was  not  a  mere  probable  hypothesis  :  it  was  a  lively 
certainty,  like  the  feeling  of  one's  own  being." 

One  has  to  go  back  only  to  the  time  of  Richard  Baxter,  to  see 
how  largely  the  convictions  of  immortality,,  in  his  day,  were 
based  on  a  knowledge  of  spiritual  phenomena. 

But  in  what  mole's  labyrinth  can  the  learned  Feuerbach  have 
been  burrowing,  that  he  does  not  know  that  some  of  the  most 
eminent  anthropologists  of  the  present  time  —  men  who  build  their 
belief  on  a  patient  induction  of  objective  facts  —  have  admitted 
the  phenomena  and  the  hypothesis  of  Spiritualism? 

He  has  no  doubt  heard  of  the  Darwinian  theory;  for  it  is  a 
favorite  one  with  the  materialists,  while  at  the  same  time  it  does 
not  in  the  least  disturb  the  Spiritualists.  Among  the  Spiritual 
ists  of  England  is  Mr.  Alfred  R.  Wallace,  a  distinguished  natu 
ralist,  who  made  explorations  on  the  Amazon;  and  of  this 
gentleman,  Dr.  Hooker,  the  president  of  the  British  Scientific 
Association,  spoke  as  follows,  in  his  address  at  the  meeting  at 
Norwich,  in  August,  1868  :  — 

"  Many  of  the  metaphysicians'  objections  have  been  contro 
verted  by  that  champion  of  natural  selection,  Mr.  Darwin's  true 
knight,  Alfred  R.  Wallace,  in  his  papers  on  '  Protection,'  in  the 


156  PLANCHETTE. 

'Westminster  Review,'  and  '  Creation  by  Law,'  in  the  'Journal 
of  Science,'  October,  1867,  &c.,  in  which  the  doctrines  of 
'Continual  Interference,'  the  'Theory  of  Beauty,'  and  kindred 
subjects,  are  discussed  with  admirable  sagacity,  knowledge,  and 
skill;  but  of  Mr.  Wallace,  and  his  many  contributions  to  philo 
sophical  biology,  it  is  not  easy  to  speak  without  enthusiasm  ; 
for,  putting  aside  their  great  merits,  he,  throughout  his  writings, 
with  a  modesty  as  rare  as  I  believe  it  to  be  in  him  unconscious, 
forgets  his  own  unquestionable  claims  to  the  honor  of  having 
originated,  independently  of  Mr.  Darwin,  the  theories  which  he 
so  ably  defends." 

Mr.  Wallace's  testimony  to  the  facts  of  Spiritualism  is  there 
fore  that  of  a  competent  scientific  man  of  the  highest  reputation  ; 
and  for  such  a  man  to  be  complacently  set  down,  by  a  metaphy 
sician  in  his  closet,  as  the  victim  of  his  "  subjective  imagination," 
is  a  reversal  of  the  order  of  things. 

Mr.  Karl  Vogt  (born  1817)  is  very  intolerant  of  any  facts  of  a 
spiritual  tendency.  He  says,  "Physiology"  {my  physiology?) 
"decides  definitely  and  categorically  against  individual  immor 
tality,  as  against  any  special  existence  of  the  soul.  The  soul  * 
does  not  enter  the  foetus,  like  the  evil  spirit  into  persons  possessed, 
but  is  a  product  of  the  development  of  the  brain;  just  as  muscu 
lar  activity  is  a  product  of  muscular  development,  and  secretion 
a  product  of  glandular  development.  .  .  .  The  fetus  manifests 
no  mental  activity :  this  changes  with  the  periods  of  life,  and 
ceases  altogether  at  death." 

Here  is  mere  dogmatic  assertion,  without  any  proof  or  apology 
for  proof.  How  does  Mr.  Vogt  know  that  '-  the  foetus  manifests 
no  mental  activity"  ?  From  the  time  of  that  Elizabeth,  men- 


*  In  the  "Ontology"  of  Dr.  Doherty  (Trubner  &  Co.,  London),  some  of  the 
most  advanced  facts  of  physiology  are  harmonized  with  those  which  Spiritualism 
reveals.  "The  spirit,"  says  this  writer,  "forms  the  body  in  utero,  by  collecting  and 
associating  particles  of  matter  from  the  blood  of  the  mother  to  form  organs ;  and  it 
sustains  the  physical  organism  during  life  by  a  constant  interchange  of  atoms  with  the 
external  world.  It  is  the  soul  which  originates  the  body,  and  adapts  it  to  its  own 
special  functions." 


DOGMATISM    OF    MATERIALISTS.  157 

tioned  by  St.  Luke,  down  to  our  own  day,  there  are  mothers  by 
the  million  who  will  tell  Mr.  Vogt  that  his  declaration  is  erro> 
neous. 

Mr.  Vogt  labors  through  an  entertaining  volume,  in  which 
the  language  of  science  is  diversified  with  that  of  sarcasm,  to 
prove  that  we'  need  not  pass  over  many  links  of  our  genealogy 
to  find  apes  for  our  ancestors.  We  have  no  special  repugnance 
to  the  ape-theory.  Many  Spiritualists  are  inclined  to  it.  The 
Darwinian  hypothesis  might  become  a  certainty  to-morrow,  and 
it  would  not  clash  with  the  convictions  of  a  man  who  knows 
that  the  phenomena  proclaimed  in  this  volume  are  substantially 
true ;  and  Spiritualism,  while  it  encourages  us  to  aspire  to  the 
attainments  of  the  loftiest  seraph,  would,  if  rightly  meditated, 
teach  us  a  humility  that  would  not  shrink  from  sympathy  with 
the  creature  that  is  lowest  in  the  scale  of  being. 

But  so  far  as  Mr.  Vogt's  system  rests  on  his  ignorance  of 
spiritual  facts,  it  needs  reconstruction,  if  he  would  have  it 
conform  with  the  science  of  the  future. 

Dr.  Moleschott  (born  1822),  who  has  acquired  high  distinction 
as  an  anthropologist,  imagines,  with  the  sanguine  temperament 
of  youth,  that  he  has  uttered  the  last  word  of  science  in  regard 
to  a  certain  class  of  facts,  when  he  says,  "Unprejudiced  philos 
ophy  is  compelled  to  reject  the  idea  of  an  individual  immortality 
and  of  a  personal  continuance  after  death." 

So  the  philosophy  which  differs  from  that  of  Dr.  Moleschott, 
and  which  refuses  to  accept  his  cheerful  doctrine  of  the  soul's 
annihilation,  is  a  philosophy  of  "  prejudice"  !  Newton,  Leibnitz, 
and  the  rest,  were  men  of  prejudice ! 

With  equal  positiveness,  the  late  Dr.  Elliotson  (who  knew  a 
good  deal  that  Dr.  Moleschott  has  yet  to  master)  taught,  for 
many  years,  in  the  "Zoist,"  a  materialism  quite  as  dense  and 
narrow  as  his.  But,  after  he  had  lived  threescore  years  and  ten, 
he  stumbled  on  one  little  fact,  demonstrated  to  him  by  his  senses 
and  his  reason,  which  shivered  the  "unprejudiced  philosophy" 
of  a  lifetime  as  by  a  lightning-flash,  and  convinced  him  that  the 
Spiritualists,  with  their  vulgar  intuitions  and  their  stubborn 


158  PLANCHETTE. 

experiences  of  spiritual  intervention,  were,  after  all,  in  the  right, 
and  that  there  is  "  a  personal  continuance  after  death." 

Dr.  Moleschott's  philosophy  is  foredoomed  to  the  same  end ; 
for  it  rests  on  a  repudiation  of  the  positive  testimony  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  human  race  up  to  the  present  time.  Unless,  like 
the  man  who  refused  to  look  through  a  microscope,  because  it 
would  subvert  his  pet  theory,  he  stubbornly  persists  in  ignoring 
the  great  facts  of  Spiritualism,  he  must  some  day  do  as  Elliotson 
did,  and  humbly  acknowledge  his  error.  The  following  lines 
of  Beattie  explain  the  rest :  — 

"  So  fares  the  system-building  sage, 
Who,  plodding  on  from  youth  to  age, 
Has  proved  all  other  reasoners  fools, 
And  bound  all  Nature  by  his  rules  ; 
So  fares  he  in  that  dreadful  hour 
When  injured  Truth  exerts  her  power 
Some  new  phenomenon  to  raise, 
Which,  bursting  on  his  frightened  gaze, 
From  its  proud  summit  to  the  ground 
Proves  the  whole  edifice  unsound." 

There  are  hopeful  tokens  already  in  the  more  recent  writings 
of  Dr.  Moleschott,  that  he  is  reconsidering  his  barren  doctrine  of 
the  ';  all-mightiness  of  the  transmutations  of  matter,"  in  which 
he  seems  merely  to  have  revamped  some  of  the  notions  of 
Heraclitus. 

The  denial  of  the  continuous  life  of  man,  after  the  dissolution 
of  the  material  body,  is  a  negation  that  never  arises  from  knowl 
edge.  It  is  not  the  exposition  of  any  positive  knowledge,  but 
the  mere  dogmatic  assertion  that  beyond  the  line  of  such  knowl 
edge  there  lies  nothing  more.  This  is  why  we  regard  as  unphil- 
osophical  and  irrational  the  position  of  those  tvho  teach 
dogmatically  that  the  phenomenon  called  death  is  the  end  of 
the  conscious  individualism  of  man.  All  such  teaching  is  as 
unphilosophical  and  unscientific  as  it  is  arrogant  and  presump 
tuous. 

The  utmost  that  the  materialist  can  rationally  say,  is,  "  I 
doubt  the  fact  of  a  future  life."  To  say  "There  is  no  future  life," 


CLAIRVOYANT    SOMNAMBULISM.  159 

he  ought  to  be  the  spirit  whose  existence  he  repudiates.  If  it 
requires  spirit  to  reveal  the  fact  oi*  spirit,  surely  nothing  less 
than  spiritual  authority  is  requisite  to  teach  the  fact  of  no-spirit. 
Thus  the  dogmatist  against  a  future  life  is  involved  in  a  contra 
diction.  To  teach  the  matter  confidently,  he  ought  to  have  an 
illumination,  the  possibility  of  which  his  theory  utterly  denies. 
No  one  but  a  seer  has  a  right  to  say,  "  There  is  no  life  for  man 
beyond  the  grave ;  "  and  the  seer's  own  seership  would  give  the 
lie  to  his  assertion.  The  Pyrrhonist  may  be  a  philosopher;  but 
the  teacher  of  annihilation  is  simply  a  charlatan. 

The  Spiritualist,  on  the  contrary,  having  a  knowledge  of 
phenomena,  mental  and  physical,  proving  to  his  satisfaction  the 
existence  of  spiritual  powers,  would  be  false  to  his  own  legiti 
mate  convictions  if  he  did  not  teach  the  great  fact  of  immortal 
ity  as  a  certainty,  in  view  of  which  our  mortal  life  ought  to  be 
shaped,  and  our  thoughts  and  affections  constantly  refreshed  by 
the  sublime  consciousness  that  death  is  a  mere  incident,  which 
leaves  the  essential  part  of  our  being  untouched ;  and  that  we 
shall  survive  to  study  the  infinite  works  of  the  Creator  in  other 
worlds,  and  to  commune  with  the  loved  ones  gone  before,  and 
the  great  and  good  of  all  ages,  in  progressive  stages  of  being, 
with  which  this  rudimental  state,  and  our  discipline  here,  shall 
be  found  hereafter  to  have  been  in  perfect  accord. 

Dr.  Buchner  has  an  easy  way  of  disposing  of  certain  incon 
venient  facts.  He  says,  "  Some  of  these  phenomena,  clairvoy 
ance  especially,  have  been  laid  hold  of  to  prove  the  existence  of 
the  supernatural  and  supersensual.  .  .  .  All  these  things  are 
now,  by  science  and  an  interrogation  of  the  facts,  considered  as 
idle  fancies.  .  .  .  What  the  belief  in  sorcery,  witchcraft,  de 
moniac  possession,  &c.,  was  in  former  centuries,  re-appears  now 
under  the  agreeable  forms  of  table-moving,  spirit-rapping,  psy- 
chography,  somnambulism,  &c.  .  .  .  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  all  pretended  cases  of  clairvoyance  rest  upon  fraud  or  illu 
sion.  Clairvoyance,  that  is,  perception  of  external  objects  with 
out  the  aid  of  the  senses,  is  an  impossibility.  It  is  a  law  of 
nature,  which  cannot  be  gainsaid,  that  we  require  our  eyes  to 


l6o  PLANCHETTE. 

see,  our  ears  to  hear,  and  that  the  senses  are  limited  in  their 
action  by  space." 

It  would  thus  seem  that  Dr.  Biichner,  like  his  master,  Mole- 
schott,  bases  his  whole  structure  of  atheistic  materialism  upon 
his  ignorance  of  certain  facts,  known  to  be  true  at  this  day  by 
several  millions  of  intelligent  persons,  and  publicly  proclaimed 
as  true  by  several  thousands.  If  he  will  open  his  eyes,  he  will 
find  that  he  is  behind  the  age.  Even  Dr.  Carpenter  and  the 
"  Edinburgh  Review"  admit  the  power  of  somnambulists  to  see 
through  opaque  substances,  and  to  read  without  the  normal  use 
of  their  physical  organs  of  sight. 

Dr.  Maudsley,  in  his  recent  work  on  the  "  Physiology  and 
Pathology  of  the  Mind,"  has  presented  the  materialistic  view  of 
his  subject  with  exhaustive  ability ;  but  in  doing  this  he  has  to 
ignore  almost  entirely  the  great  facts  of  somnambulism.  His 
reference  to  the  subject  is  of  the  most  meagre  and  casual  kind. 
"Perhaps."  he  says  (page  267),  "no  more  fitting  opportunity 
than  the  present  will  present' itself  for  referring  to  the  singular 
state  of  somnambulism."  And  then,  after  attributing  the  phe 
nomena  to  the  "  independent  action  of  the  sensorial  and  corre 
sponding  motor  centres,"  he  winds  up  with  "  a  striking  instance  " 
that  recently  came  under  his  observation.  It  is  a  story  of  a 
young  sempstress  who  got  up  in  the  night  and  finished,  in  a 
state  of  somnambulism,  the  work  on  which  she  was  engaged. 

And  here  is  the  moral  he  draws  from  the  incident :  "  Soon  the 
long  day's  task  will  be  over  with  her.  and  she  will  sleep  well 
where  no  troubles  more  can  reach  her,  and  no  dream  of  work  or 
sorrow  disturb  her  slumbers."  All  which  is  simply  a  repetition 
of  Chaumette's  epigraph  in  the  days  of  the  French  revolution : 
"Death  is  an  eternal  sleep."  An  hypothesis  which  all  the  facts 
of  somnambulism  confute !  And  yet  to  this  momentous  subject 
Dr.  Maudsley  gives  less  than  two  pages  out  of  the  four  hundred 
and  forty-two  to  which  his  volume  extends. 

M.  Georget,  a  much  esteemed  physiologist  of  the  Paris  school, 
appears  to  have  arrived  ultimately  at  a  very  different  conclusion 
from  that  where  Dr.  Maudsley  leaves  us.  Georget  was  the  au- 


TESTIMONY    OF    GEORGET.  l6l 

thor  of  a  much  esteemed  work  on  the  "  Physiology  of  the  Ner 
vous  System  (1821)."  In  it  he  professed  opinions,  charged  with 
materialism,  very  similar  to  those  of  Dr.  Maudsley;  but,  after 
numerous  experiences  in  magnetic  somnambulism,  Georget 
completely  changed  his  views,  and  had  the  courage  and  good 
faith  to  avow  it,  and  to  give  the  avowal  an  added  sanctity  by 
incorporating  it  in  his  last  will  and  testament,  as  follows  :  — 

"I  must  not  conclude  without  an  important  declaration.  In 
1821,  in  my  work  on  the  '  Physiology  of  the  Nervous  System,' 
I  boldly  professed  materialism.  ...  This  work  had  scarcely 
appeared,  when  renewed  meditations  on  a  very  extraordinary 
phenomenon,  somnambulism,  no  longer  permitted  me  to  enter 
tain  doubts  of  the  existence  within  us,  and  external  to  us,  of 
an  intelligent  principle,  altogether  different  from  material  ex 
istences  ;  in  a  word,  of  the  soul  and  God.  With  respect  to  this 
I  have  a  profound  conviction,  founded  upon  facts  which  I 
believe  to  be  incontestable.  This  declaration  will  not  see  the 
light  till  a  period  when  its  sincerity  will  not  be  doubted,  nor  my 
intentions  suspected.  As  I  cannot  publish  it  myself,  I  request 
those  persons  who  may  read  it,  on  opening  this  will,  that  is  to 
say,  after  my  death,  to  give  it  all  possible  publicity." 

Anton  Mesmer  (1734-1815)  bears  much  the  same  relation  to 
animal  magnetism  that  Miss  Kate  Fox  does  to  modern  Spiritu 
alism.  The  fact  of  the  influence  of  one  human  being  by 
another,  under  'certain  conditions,  through  passes  of  the  hand, 
or  by  the  simple  exercise  of  the  will,  was  known  and  practised 
long  before  Mesmer  introduced  the  subject  anew  to  public  atten 
tion.  Recent  discoveries  at  Pompeii  show  that  it  was  a  mode 
of  relief  known  there  centuries  ago.  Plautus,  in  "Amphitryo," 
makes  one  of  his  characters  ask,  "  How  if  I  stroke  him  slowly 
with  the  hand,  so  that  he  sleeps?"  These  magnetic  means  of 
cure  were  not  only  practised,  but  directions  for  them  were 
inscribed  on  sacred  tables  and  pillars,  and  illustrated  by  pic 
tures  on  the  temple  walls,  so  as  to  be  intelligible  to  all.  Apu- 
leius  furnishes  similar  evidences  of  the  ordinary  practice  by  the 
Romans  of  magnetic  manipulations,  to  induce  somnambulism 


l62  PLANCHETTE. 

and  clairvoyance.  In  Livy  alone,  there  are  more  than  fifty 
instances  in  which  he  refers  to  the  literal  fulfilment  of  dreams, 
oracles,  prognostics  by  seers,  &c. 

It  was  Mesmer's  theory,  that  the  universe  is  submerged  in  an 
eminently  subtle  fluid,  which  he  thought  should  be  named  ani 
mal-magnetic  fluid,  because  it  can  be  compared  to  the  fluid  of 
the  magnet;  that  this  fluid  impregnates  all  bodies,  and  trans 
mits  to  them  the  impression  of  motion ;  that  it  insinuates  itself 
into,  and  circulates  through,  all  the  fibres  of  the  nervous  system  ; 
an.d  that  it  may  be  accumulated,  when  the  magnetizer  wills  it, 
in  buckets,  tubs,  &c.,  and  especially  in  the  organs  of  the  magnet 
izer  who  transmits  it  to  the  magnetized.  This  hypothetical 
fluid  will  remind  the  classical  reader  of  the  "chain  uniting  all 
beings"  of  Hesiod,  and  the  "  soul  of  the  world"  of  Plato. 

With  Mesmer's  operations  began  the  modern  interest  in  ani 
mal  magnetism,  whatever  its  antiquity  may  be.  In  1778,  he 
arrived  in  Paris,  and  for  five  or  six  years  made  a  great  noise  by 
his  experiments.  The  king  appointed  a  commission,  consisting 
of  five  members  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  four  members  of 
the  Faculty  of  Medicine,  to  report  upon  Mesmer's  exhibition. 
Franklin  was  a  member  of  the  commission ;  but  he  was  at  the 
time  unwell,  and  unable  to  attend  its  sittings. 

The  commission,  in  their  elaborate  Report,  allow  that  in  what 
they  witnessed,  there  was  something  that  seemed  the  working 
of  a  mysterious  agent.  They  reduced  Mesmer's  exhibitions  to 
four  classes :  first,  those  which  could  be  explained  on  physio 
logical  grounds ;  second,  those  which  were  contrary  to  the  laws 
of  magnetism;  third,  those  where  the  imagination  of  the  mes 
merized  person  was  the  source  of  the  phenomena;  and  fourth, 
facts  which  led  them  to  admit  a  special  agent.  One  member  of 
the  commission,  the  eminent  Laurent  de  Jussieu,  became  a  con 
vert  to  Mesmer's  views,  and  testified  to  "several  well-verified 
facts,  independent  of  the  imagination." 

In  the  year  1826,  the  French  Academy  of  Medicine  appointed 
a  second  commission.  They  labored  diligently  for  five  years, 
and  presented  a  report  (June,  1831)  through  Dr.  Husson.  It  is 


REPORT    ON    MESMERISM.  163 

signed  by  nine  members  of  the  commission,  two  only,  Messrs. 
Double  and  Magendie,  having  declined  to  assist  at  the  investi 
gations.  The  commission  admit  nearly  all  the  important  facts 
of  animal  magnetism. 

"It  is  demonstrated  to  us,"  they  declare,  "that  magnetic 
sleep  has  been  produced  in  circumstances  where  the  magnetized 
persons  have  not  been  able  to  see  or  gain  any  knowledge  of  the 
means  employed  to  determine  it."  The  magnetizer  being  in  a 
separate  apartment,  and  the  subject  wholly  unaware  of  his  inten 
tion,  the  sleep  was  induced  through  the  mere  operation  of  the 
magnetizer's  will.  We  have  ourselves  repeatedly  tested  this 
phenomenon  here  admitted  by  the  commission. 

The  Report  speaks  of  a  terrible  operation  (the  removal  of  the 
right  breast)  which  was  performed  by  M.  Cloquet  upon  Madame 
Plantin.  During  the  twelve  minutes  that  the  operation  lasted, 
the  invalid,  previously  magnetized,  "  continued  to  converse 
calmly  with  the  operator,  giving  not  the  slightest  evidence  of 
sensation." 

The  late  Dr.  Valentine  Mott,  of  New  York,  who  was  present 
at  this  operation,  added  his  personal  testimony  in  our  presence 
to  the  truth  of  the  foregoing  statement. 

In  regard  to  clairvoyance,  the  commission  report  several 
facts.  Among  others,  they  speak  of  a  law  student,  M.  Villa- 
grand,  whose  eyelids  were  kept  closed  by  the  different  members 
of  the  commission ;  but  who,  nevertheless,  recognized  cards 
entirely  new,  and  read  from  a  book  open  before  him.  In  short, 
the  interior  life,  the  perception  of  the  state  of  the  body,  the 
prevision  of  crises,  the  instinctive  prescription  of  remedies,  are 
forcibly  attested  in  the  Report. 

"The  magnetized  person,"  it  says,  "can  not  only  be  acted 
upon,  but  he  can,  without  his  knowledge,  be  thrown  into  and 
aroused  from  a  complete  somnambulic  condition,  when  the 
operator  is  out  of  his  sight,  at  a  certain  distance  from  him,  and 
separated  by  doors.  .  .  .  The  phenomenon  of  clairvoyance  takes 
place  even  with  the  fingers  pressed  tightly  over  the  eyelids. 
The  previsions  of  two  somnambulists,  relative  to  their  health, 
were  realized  with  remarkable  accuracy." 


164  PI.ANCHETTE. 

The  Academy  was  rather  astonished  at  the  Report,  and  for  a 
long  time  refused  to  discuss  it.  But  the  experiments  continued 
to  multiply.  Insensibility  to  pain,  during  terrible  operations, 

.was  one  of  the  phenomena  that  was  regarded  as  most  wonder 
ful.  Pistols  were  discharged  close  to  the  heads  of  the  somnam 
bulists  without  making  them  start;  without  even  interrupting 
the  sentence  they  had  commenced. 

Facts  like  these  could  not  long  be  ignored,  nor  could  the 
Report  of  the  eleven  commissioners  be  silently  consigned  to 
oblivion.  The  Academy  then  decided  to  discuss  it;  and  the 
result  was,  that  they  refused  to  print  the  Report,  voting  only 
for  the  autograph  copy,  which,  as  Count  Gasparin  tells  us,  re 
mains  shut  up  in  the  archives  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine ! 
"To  deny  these  phenomena,"  he  says,  "one  must  also  deny 
natural  somnambulism,  assuredly  not  less  extraordinary  than 
magnetic  somnambulism.  Inasmuch  as  the  existence  of  nat 
ural  somnambulists  cannot  be  denied  (and  who  will  deny  it?), 
little  will  be  gained  by  contesting  mesmerism." 

M.  Georget,  to  whom  we  have  already  referred,  thus  ex 
presses  himself:  "My  somnambulists  are  so  insensible  to  sound, 
that  the  very  loudest  noises,  produced  unexpectedly  to  them,  do 
not  cause  them  the  slightest  emotion.  Yet  tb.ey  will  always 
hear  the  magnetizer."  A  phenomenon  we  have  ourselves  fre 
quently  experienced  in  somnambulists;  as  we  also  have  the 
following,  described  by  M.  Rostan  :  "The  outward  life  ceases; 
the  somnambulist  lives  within  himself,  completely  isolated  from 
the  exterior  world ;  this  isolation  is  especially  complete  for  the 
two  senses  of  sight  and  hearing.  .  .  .  The  eyes  of  the  majority 

'  of  somnambulists  are  so  insensible  to  light,  that  the  lashes  have 
been  burned  without  their  testifying  the  least  impression;  if  the 
lids  are  raised,  and  the  fingers  passed  rapidly  in  front  of  the 
eye,  the  immobility  remains  complete.  .  .  .  And  yet  they  are 
conscious  of  the  objects  which  surround  them ;  they  avoid  with 
the  greatest  address  obstacles  in  their  path." 

The  French  commissioners  mention  some  experiments  in 
which  rare  powers  of  detecting  disease  were  manifested  by 


ARAGO    ON    MESMERISM.  165 

somnambulists.  Internal  symptoms,  inappreciable  to  the  eye, 
were  described  by  them,  and  the  correctness  of  the  descrip 
tion  afterwards  verified  by  a  post-mortem  examination  of  the 
bodies. 

M.  de  Puysegur  says  of  a  peasant  whom  he  had  magnetized, 
"I  have  compelled  him  to  move  quickly  about  on  his  seat,  as  if* 
dancing  to  a  tune,  which,  singing  mentally  myself,  I  made  him 
repeat?  aloud.  ...  I  have  no  occasion  to  speak  to  him;  I  think 
in  his  presence;  he  understands  and  answers  me." 

"Having  performed,"  says  Dr.  Bertrand,  "on  my  first  som 
nambulist  the  process  by  which  I  usually  awakened  her,  exer 
cising  at  the  same  time  a  firm  will  to  the  contrary,  she  was 
seized  with  strong  convulsive  movements.  '  What  is  the  matter 
with  you?'  said  I.  'Indeed,'  she  replied,  'you  tell  me  to  awake, 
and  yet  you  do  not  will  that  I  shall  awake.' "  Dr.  Bertrand  says 
that  he  has  thrown  into  the  somnambulic  state  a  person  a  hun 
dred  leagues  from  him. 

M.  Filassier  relates  that  a  young  somnambulist  described  at 
Paris,  minute  by  minute,  the  various  acts,  the  attitudes,  and 
even  the  secret  thoughts  of  her  mother,  who  was  at  Arcis-sur- 
Aube.  "  Every  possible  precaution,"  he  adds,  "  was  taken  to 
ascertain  the  truth  regarding  this  vision  into  space.  The 
inquiry  was  conducted  by  a  family  of  intelligence  and  strict 
integrity,  in  connection  with  some  conscientious  physicians. 
The  lucidness  of  Mile.  Clarice  was  in  all  cases  justified  by  the 
event." 

The  celebrated  Arago,  in  an  article  on  Mesmerism,  says, 
"The  man  who,  outside  of  pure  mathematics,  pronounces  the 
word  impossible,  is  wanting  in  prudence.  .  .  .  Nothing,  for 
example,  in  all  the  wonders  of  somnambulism,  is  looked  upon 
with  more  mistrust  than  an  oft-repeated  assertion  touching  the 
faculty,  possessed  by  certain  persons  in  a  crisis  state,  of  decipher 
ing  a  letter  at  a  distance  by  means  of  the  foot,  the  hand,  or  the 
stomach.  Yet,  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  suspicions  of  even 
the  most  rigidly  critical  minds  will  be  removed,  after  having 
reflected  on  the  ingenious  experiments  in  which  Moser  pro- 


I 66  PLANCHETTE. 

duced,  also  at  a  distance,  very  distinct  images  of  all  sorts  of 
objects  on  all  sorts  of  bodies,  and  in  the  most  complete  dark 
ness." 

"The  phenomena  we  are  made  to  observe  in  somnambulism," 
says  Deleuze,  "  demonstrate  the  distinction  of  the  two  sub- 
Stances,  the  double  existence  of  the  interior  man  and  of  the 
exterior  man  in  the  same  individual :  they  offer  the  direct  proof 
of  the  spirituality  of  the  soul,  and  the  answer  to  all  objections 
that  have  been  raised  against  its  immortality."  "Among  the 
men  who  have  made  magnetism  their  study,  there  are,  unfortu 
nately,  some  materialists.  I  cannot  conceive  how  it  is  possible 
that  many  of  the  phenomena  witnessed  by  them  —  such  as  sight 
at  a  distance,  prevision,  the  action  of  the  will,  the  communica 
tion  of  the  thoughts  without  external  signs  —  could  have  failed  to 
appear  in  their  eyes  as  sufficient  proof  of  the  spirituality  of  the 
soul." 

"The  repose  of  the  outer,"  says  Townshend,  "is  an  absolute 
condition  for  the  revelation  of  the  inner,  sensibility.  We  all  may 
feel  that,  in  order  to  call  up  before  our  mind's  eye  the  face  of  a 
dear  friend,  or  the  beauties  of  a  familiar  landscape,  we  must 
retreat  from  the  obtrusive  impulses  of  the  external  world. 
Would  we  rise  to  a  yet  higher  discernment  of  remembered 
objects,  we  must  yet  more  calmly  check  the  beating  of  our 
pulses,  until  we  pass  into  that  state  of  mind  so  beautifully 
described  by  Wordsworth,  — 

'  That  serene  and  blessed  mood 
In  which  the  affections  gently  lead  us  on, 
Until  the  breath  of  this  corporeal  frame, 
And  even  the  motion  of  our  human  blood 
Almost  suspended,  we  are  laid  asleep 
In  body,  and  become  a  living  soul : 
While,  with  an  eye  made  quiet  by  the  power 
Of  harmony,  and  the  deep  power  of  joy, 
We  see  into  the  life  of  things.' 

"The  mesmeric  vision,  or  clairvoyance,  has  been  gravely  and 
grandly  pronounced  to  be  '  physically  and  physiologically  im- 


AUTHENTICATED    PREDICTION.  167 

possible.'  How  can  we  reply  to  this  ?  Only,  I  suppose,  as 
Pascal  did  to  some  one  who  asserted  that  it  was  impossible 
for  God,  being  so  great,  to  busy  himself  about  our  little  world, — 
'To  decide  such  a  question,  one  ought  to  be  great  indeed.'" 

"  Impossible  is  nowhere  to  be  found, 
Except,  perhaps,  in  the  fool's  calendar." 

Dr.  Edwin  Lee,  in  his  "  Report  upon  the  Phenomena  of  Clair 
voyance  "  (London,  1843),  mentions  the  case  of  the  prediction 
of  the  death  of  the  king  of  Wurtemberg  by  two  different  som 
nambulists  :  the  one  having  foretold  the  event  four  years 
beforehand ;  the  other,  in  the  spring  of  the  same  year,  mentioned 
the  exact  day,  in  the  month  of  October,  as  also  the  disease 
(apoplexy). 

"The  exact  coincidence,"  says  Dr.  Lee,  "of  the  event  with 
the  predictions  is  not  doubted  at  Stuttgard ;  and,  a  fortnight 
ago,  Dr.  Klein,  who  is  now  in  England,  accompanying  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Wurtemberg,  having  been  introduced  to  me,  I 
took  the  opportunity  of  asking  him  about  the  circumstance, 
which  he  acknowledged  was  as  has  been  stated,  saying,  more 
over,  that  his  father  was  physician  to  the  king,  who,  on  the 
morning  of  the  day  on  which  the  attack  occurred,  was  in  very 
good  health  and  spirits." 

Shelley,  the  poet,  appears  to  have  been  partially  somnambulic 
on  several  occasions.  He  was  also  sensitive  to  mesmeric  influ 
ence.  Williams,  who  was  drowned  with  Shelley,  says  in  a  note 
in  his  diary  shortly  before  the  event,  "After  tea,  walked  with 
Shelley  on  the  terrace.  .  .  .  Observing  him  sensibly  affected, 
I  demanded  of  him  if  he  was  in  pain;  but  he  only  answered, 
by  saying,  '  There  it  is  again  !  there  1 '  He  recovered  after  some 
time,  and  declared  that  he  saw,  as  plainly  as  he  then  saw  me,  a 
naked  child  (Byron's  Allegra,  who  had  recently  died)  rise  from 
the  sea,  and  clasp  its  hands  as  if  in  joy,  smiling  at  him.  This 
was  a  trance  that  it  required  some  reasoning  and  philosophy  to 
wake  him  from  entirely,  so  forcibly  had  the  visions  operated  on 
his  mind." 


l68  PLANCHETTE. 

^ 

Almost  every  family  has  its  tradition  of  some  event  like  the 
following:  The  Pacific  Hotel,  in  St.  Louis,  was  destroyed  by 
fire  in  February,  1858;  and  twenty-one  lives  were  lost  on  the 
occasion.  On  the  night  of  the  fire,  a  little  brother  of  Mr.  Henry 
Rochester,  living  at  home  with  his  parents,  near  Avon,  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  awoke  some  time  after  midnight  with 
screaming  and  tears,  saying  that  the  hotel  in  St.  Louis  was  on 
fire,  and  that  his  brother  Henry  was  burning  to  death.  So 
intense  were  his  alarm  and  horror,  that  it  was  with  considerable 
difficulty  he  could  be  quieted.  On  the  following  day,  at  noon, 
the  parents  received  a  telegram  from  St.  Louis,  confirming  the 
little  boy's  dream  in  every  particular. 

Well-authenticated  instances  of  spontaneous  clairvoyance  like 
this  could  be  collected  from  the  newspapers  of  the  last  ten  years 
till  the  record  would  fill  volumes.  Not  many  years  since  a  New- 
Orleans  merchant,  being  in  Paris,  woke  up  from  sleep  one  night, 
having  heard,  as  he  thought,  the  voice  of  his  son  uttering  the 
words,  "Father,  I'm  dying."  So  much  impressed  was  he  by 
this,  that  he  got  out  of  bed,  lighted  a  candle,  and  made  a  record 
of  the  occurrence,  stating  the  exact  hour  by  the  clock,  in  his 
note-book.  When  he  arrived  in  New  Orleans,  a  few  weeks 
afterwards,  the  first  friend  he  met  told  him  of  his  son's  death, 
and  added,  "  His  last  words  were,  '  Father,  I'm  dying.'"  The 
merchant  took  out  his  note-book,  pointed  to  the  record, 
and  afterwards  learned  that  his  son  had  died  at  the  precise  hour 
named,  after  making  the  proper  allowance  for  difference  of  longi 
tude  between  Paris  and  New  Orleans. 

Bacon  recognizes  a  natural  divination  proceeding  from  the 
internal  power  of  the  soul.  "  The  mind,"  he  tells  us,  "  abstracted 
or  collected  in  itself,  and  not  diffused  in  the  organs  of  the  body, 
has,  from  the  natural  power  of  its  own  essence,  some  foreknowl 
edge  of  future  things  ;  and  this  appears  chiefly  in  sleep,  ecstasies, 
and  the  near  appi-oach  of  death." 

"The  phenomena  of  clairvoyance,  prevision,  and  second 
sight,"  says  De  Boismont,  "  depend  on  a  sudden  illumination 
of  the  cerebral  organ,  which  calls  into  activity  sensations  that 
have  hitherto  lain  dormant." 


NARRATIVE  OF  REV.  DR.  BUSHNELL.        169 

Rather  do  they  depend,  we  should  say,  on  an  intromission 
from  latent  spiritual  forces,  called  into  action  by  some  abnormal 
conditions  affecting  the  relations  of  the  physical  to  the  spiritual 
body. 

De  Boismont,  whose  work  on  "  Hallucinations"  (Paris,  1852) 
has  a  high  reputation  in  France,  admits  that  some  cases  of 
prevision  "  appear^  to  spring  from  an  enlarged  faculty  of  per 
ception,  a  supernatural  intuition." 

To  our  instances  of  clairvoyance  in  dreams,  we  add  the  follow 
ing  perfectly  well-authenticated  case,  related  (1858)  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Horace  Bushnell.  "As  I  sat  by  the  fire,"  he  says,  "one  ' 
stormy  November  night,  in  a  hotel-parlor,  in  the  Napa  Valley 
of  California,  there  came  in  a  most  venerable  and  benignant- 
looking  person,  with  his  wife.  The  stranger  was  Captain  Yount, 
a  man  who  came  over  into  California,  as  a  trapper,  more  than 
forty  years  ago.  Here  he  has  lived,  apart  from  the  great  world 
and  its  questions,  acquiring  an  immense  landed  estate,  and 
becoming  a  kind  of  acknowledged  patriarch  in  the  country. 
His  tall,  manly  person,  and  his  gracious,  paternal  look,  as 
totally  unsophisticated  in  the  expression  as  if  he  had  never 
heard  of  a  philosophic  doubt  or  question  in  his  life,  marked  him 
as  the  true  patriarch. 

"  The  conversation  turned,  I  know  not  how,  on  spiritism  and 
the  modern  necromancy;  and  he  discovered  a  degree  of  incli 
nation  to  believe  in  the  reported  mysteries.  His  wife,  a  much 
younger  person,  and  apparently  a  Christian,  intimated  that 
probably  he  was  predisposed  to  this  kind  of  faith  by  a  very  pe 
culiar  experience  of  his  own,  and  evidently  desii-ed  that  he  might 
be  drawn  out  by  some  intelligent  discussion  of  his  queries. 

"At  my  request,  he  gave  me  his  story.  About  six  or  seven 
years  previous,  in  a  mid-winter's  night,  he  had  a  dream,  in  which 
he  saw  what  appeared  to  be  a  company  of  emigrants,  arrested 
by  the  snows  of  the  mountains,  and  perishing  rapidly  by  cold 
and  hunger.  He  noted  the  very  cast  of  the  scenery,  marked  by 
a  huge  perpendicular  front  of  white-rock  cliff;  he  saw  the  men 
cutting  off  what  appeared  to  be  tree-tops  rising  out  of  deep 


iyO  PLANCHETTE. 

gulfs  of  snow;  he  distinguished  the  very  features  of  the  persons, 
and  the  look  of  their  particular  distress. 

"  He  woke,  profoundly  impressed  with  the  distinctness  and. 
apparent  reality  of  his  dream.  At  length  he  fell  asleep,  and 
dreamed  exactly  the  same  dream  again.  In  the  morning  he 
could  not  expel  it  from  his  mind.  Falling  in,  shortly,  with  an 
old  hunter  comrade,  he  told  him  the  story,  and  was  only  the 
more  deeply  impressed  by  his  recognizing,  without  hesitation, 
the  scenery  of  the  dream.  This  comrade  had  come  over  the 
Sierra  by  the  Carson-Valley  Pass,  and  declared  that  a  spot  in 
the  pass  answered  exactly  to  his  description.  By  this  the  unso 
phisticated  patriarch  was  decided.  He  immediately  collected  a 
company  of  men,  with  mules  and  blankets  and  all  necessary 
provisions.  The  neighbors  were  laughing,  meantime,  at  his 
credulity.  'No  matter,' said  he:  'I  am  able  to  do  this,  and  I 
will ;  for  I  yerily  believe  that  the  fact  is  according  to  my  dream.' 
The  men  were  sent  into  the  mountains,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  distant,  directly  to  the  Carson-Valley  Pass.  And  there 
they  found  the  company  in  exactly  the  condition  of  the  dream, 
and  brought  in  the  remnant  alive." 

Dr.  Bushnell  adds,  that  a  gentleman  present  said  to  him, 
"You  need  have  no  doubt  of  this;  for  we  Californians  all  know 
the  facts  and  the  names  of  the  families  brought  in,  who  now 
look  upon  our  venerable  friend  as  a  sort  of  savior."  These 
names  he  gave,  together  with  the  residence  of  each ;  and  Dr. 
Bushnell  avers  that  he  found  the  Californians  everywhere  ready 
to  second  the  old  man's  testimony.  "  Nothing  could  be  more 
natural  tha»  for  the  good-hearted  patriarch  himself  to  add  that 
the  brightest  thing  in  his  life,  and  that  which  gave  him  the 
greatest  joy,  was  his  simple  faith  in  that  dream." 

Instances  similar  to  the  foregoing  could  be  multiplied  indefi 
nitely.  We  have  heard  of  the  case  of  the  brother  of  an  ancestor 
of  our  own,  whose  ship  was  struck  by  lightning,  the  consequence 
of  which  was  that  he  aod  his  crew  were  compelled  to  escape 
from  the  wreck  in  the  long-boat,  where  they  were  exposed  for 
many  days,  at  an  inclement  season,  in  the  middle  of  the  Atlantic. 


CLAIRVOYANCE    PROVES    IMMORTALITY.  1 71 

The  captain  of  a  vessel  sailing  from  the  same  port  dreamed  of 
seeing  them,  and  was  so  vividly  impressed  by  the  vision,  that 
he  determined  on  altering  his  course,  and  going  back  in  search 
of  the  boat.  This  he  did,  against  the  expostulations  of  his 
mates.  On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  he  fell  in  with  the 
boat,  and  rescued  the  occupants  of  it. 

The  phenomena  of  clairvoyance  in  the  somnambulism  induced 
by  mesmerism  were  first  noticed,  in  modern  times,  in  the  year 
1784,  by  the  Marquis  de  Puysegur,  a  disciple  of  Mesmer.  That 
these  phenomena  afford  conclusive  evidence  of  spiritual  faculties 
latent  in  man,  and  developed  under  certain  circumstances  even 
in  this  life,  is  a  conviction  at  which  most  persons,  who  have 
given  much  thought  to  the  subject,  have  finally  arrived.  We 
see  no  escape  from  the  conviction.  The  added  marvels  of 
Spiritualism  are  hardly  needed  to  give  it  force;  but  let  them  be 
none  the  less  welcome  on  that  account. 

We  need  not  multiply  instances  of  clairvoyance,  clairau- 
dience,  &c.  The  fact  is  established,  if  any  fact  can  be  by 
human  testimony.  It  needs  but  a  single  experiment  with  Mr. 
Charles  H.  Foster,  in  pellet-reading,  to  shatter  the  most  elab 
orate  structure  of  Sadducean  materialism  from  turret  to  founda 
tion-stone.  If  the  faculties  of  sight  and  hearing,  in  their  highest 
manifestations,  are  not  dependent  on  their  proper  physical 
organs,  who  can  rationally  argue  that  they  are  likely  to  be 
destroyed  by  the  dissolution  of  the  physical  body  itself  ? 

Mr.  S.  B.  Brittan,  one  of  the  earliest  to  accept  the  facts  of 
phenomenal  Spiritualism,  remarks,  "The  individuality  of  man 
does  not  belong  to  his  body;  but  inheres  in  a  supra-mortal  and 
indestructible  constitution.  .  .  .  Within  this  corporeal  frame  there 
is  another  body  of  more  ethereal  elements.  .  .  .  If  there  were  no 
inward  form  or  spiritual  constitution,  the  molecular  eliminations 
would  periodically  destroy  the  identity  of  man." 

"  Our  soul,"  says  Joubert,  "  is  ever  fully  alive.  It-is  so  in  the 
sick;  in  those  who  have  fainted;  in  the  dying;  it  is  still  more 
alive  after  death."  .  'v  .• 

"The  soul,"  says  Zschokke,  himself  a  clairvoyant,  "has  the 


172  PLANCHETTE. 

faculty  directly,  and  without  inference,  both  of  perceiving  occur 
rences  at  a  distance,  and  of  being  sensible  of  future  events.  The 
ancients,  who  knew  as  much  as  we  do  of  the  properties  of  the 
human  soul,  observed  this  inexplicable  power  of  perception 
and  foresight,  especially  in  cases  of  nervous  weakness,  and  in 
the  dying." 

That  the  instances  of  clairvoyance  on  the  part  of  the  ancient 
oracles  were  numerous,  no  student  of  history  can  deny,  without 
rejecting,  through  simple  prejudice,  a  vast  amount  of  explicit 
and  concurrent  human  testimony.  The  genuineness  of  the 
oracles  was  conceded  by  Justin  Martyr,  Athenagoras,  Theophi- 
lus  of  Alexandria,  Tatian,  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Origen,  Eu- 
sebius,  Athanasius,  Chrysostom,  Cyril  Alexandrinus,  and  others 
of  the  Greek  fathers  ;  and  by  Minucius  Felix,  Cyprian,  Tertullian, 
Lactantius,  Maternus-Firnicius,  Jerome,  Augustine,  and  others 
of  the  Latin.  Thus,  Augustine  writes,  "They  [the  spirits]  for 
the  most  part  foretell  what  they  are  about  to  perform ;  for  often 
they  receive  power  to  send  diseases  by  vitiating  the  atmosphere. 
Sometimes  they  predict  what  they  foresee  by  natural  signs, 
which  signs  transcend  human  sense;  at  others  they  learn,  by 
outward  bodily  tokens,  human  plans,  even  though  unspoken, 
and  thus  foretell  things  to  the  astonishment  of  those  ignorant 
of  the  existence  of  such  plans." 

The  Jews  before  Christ,  and  the  Fathers  after,  believed  that 
departed  spirits  lurked  about  images,  spoke  in  oracles,  controlled 
omens,  and  in  various  ways  encouraged  men  to  worship  them. 

If  human  testimony  is  to  be  taken  as  of  any  account,  com 
pared  with  the  mere  speculations  of  closet  professors,  putting 
forth  decisions  on  matters  they  refuse  to  investigate  practically, 
this  question  of  spiritual  phenomena  is  decided.  "  Why,  then," 
asks  Cicero,  "  doubt  the  certainty  of  this  argument,  if  reason 
consent,  if  facts,  people,  nations,  Greeks,  barbarians,  our  ances 
tors,  and  the  universal  faith?  If  chief  philosophers,  poets,  the 
wisest  of  men,  founders  of  republics,  builders  of  cities?  Or, 
discarding  the  united  consent  of  the  human  kind,  shall  we  wait 
for  brutes  to  speak?" 


THE    SPIRITUAL    IN    THE    MATERIAL.  173 

"  Si  divinatio  est,  dii  sunt,"  if  there  is  divination,  there  must  be 
gods  (or  spirits),  was  a  common  saying  of  the  ancient  Romans. 
One  authentic  instance  of  clairvoyance  satisfied  them  of  the 
great  fact  of  spiritual  existence. 

f  "That  we  should  rather  evolve  from  our  present  corporeal 
elements  the  body  that  is  to  be  ours,  than  begin  existence  de 
novo"  says  Townshend  ;  "  that,  in  other  words,  we  should  really 
possess  a  fundamental  life,  or  body,  incapable  of  passing  away 
with  the  grosser  covering  that  envelops  it;  that,  at  death,  we 
should  retain  something  physically  from  our  actual  condition, — 
seems  pointed  out  to  us  by  all  the  analogies  of  nature. 

"  Everywhere  we  behold  that  one  state  includes  the  embryo 
of  the  next,  not  metaphysically,  but  materially;  and  entering 
on  a  new  scene  of  existence  is  not  so  much  a  change  as  a  con 
tinuation  of  what  went  before.  The  very  rudiments  of  organs, 
intended  in  a  higher  stage  of  animal  life  to  be  useful,  are  found, 
uselessly,  as  it  were,  appearing  in  the  lower  classes  of  animated 
creatures ;  or,  stranger  still,  lying  in  embryo  in  the  same  creat 
ure  in  one  state,  only  to  be  developed  in  another.  The  wings 
that  form  the  butterfly  lie  folded  in  the  worm. 

"We  should,  then,  a  priori,  expect  to  find  the  principle  that 
individualizes  man,  and  is  the  true  medium  of  his  instruction, 
attached  to  him  from  the  beginning,  and  that  the  germs  of 
future  capacities,  physical  not  less  than  intellectual,  should  be 
discoverable  in  his  constitution. 

"The  dissolution  of  this  coarser  covering  is,  by  us,  called 
death ;  that  is,  we  seem  unto  men  to  die :  but  with  our  inner 
body  we  never  part;  and,  consequently,  by  that  we  still  retain 
our  hold  upon  individual  existenceY  As  Leibnitz  has  remarked, 
'  There  is  no  such  thing  as  death,  if  that  word  be  understood  with 
rigorous  and  metaphysical  accuracy.  The  soul  never  quits  com 
pletely  the  body  with  which  it  is  united,  nor  does  it  pass  from  one 
body  into  another  with  which  it  had  no  connection  before  : 
metamorphosis  takes  place;  but  there  is  no  metempsychosis.'* 

*  Metamorphosis,  a  change  of  form  or  shape ;  transformation.  Metempsychosis, 
the  passage  of  the  soul  from  one  body  into  another. 


174  PLANCIIETTE. 

"  Man  is  shown  by  the  facts  of  mesmerism  to  be  capable  of 
increased  sensitive  power.  To  what  end,  if  hereafter  this  in 
crease  of  power  become  not  permanent  ?  0  Would  wings  be 
folded  in  the  worm  if  they  were  not  one  day  to  enable  it  to  fly? 
We  cannot  think  so  poorly  of  creative  power,  or  of  thrifty 
nature.  .  .  .  Wretched,  indeed,  must  be  the  view  of  man  which 
confines  him  to  this  bank  and  shoal  of  time ;  which  does  not 
regard  him,  and  all  his  glorious  endowments,  as  intended/or  a 
series  of  existences." 

"What  do  we  understand  by  the  term  spiritual?"  says  the 
Rev.  B.  F.  Bowles.  "May  we  not  all  agree  upon  the. common 
idea  that  the  spiritual  is  the  unseen,  and,  to  our  senses,  intan 
gible?  I  think  we  may.  Now,  that  there  is  an  unseen  force 
within  us,  constituting  our  interior  personality,  and  that  mani 
fests  itself  through  these  outward  forms,  seems  self-evident.  It 
is  this  that  is  the  source  of  all  outward  action,  and  that  receives 
from  without  all  impressions.  It  is  this  that  constitutes  the  /or 
the  me,  and  to  which  we  refer  when  we  use  these  pronouns. 
We  are  all  conscious  of  this  unseen  self.  And  when  we  speak 
of  seeing,  of  hearing,  of  tasting,  of  smelling,  of  feeling,  we 
refer  to  a  being  who  possesses  all  these  senses,  but  who  exists 
behind  the  organs  of  their  outward  manifestation.  I  do  not 
properly  say  '  mv  eye  sees,'  or  '  my  hand  feels,'  but  rather  '  /see 
through  my  eye,'  and  '  feel  ivith  or  through  my  hand.'  Nor  do  I 
say,  '  my  brain  thinks,'  but  '  /  think  wit/i  my  brain.'  And  our 
common  consciousness  approves. 

"And  the  one  who  possesses  all  these  senses  is  never  seen. 
I  never  have  seen  you,  nor  you  me.  We  have  only  seen  the 
manifestations  of  each  other.  The  individual  who  dwells  in 
either  of  the  living  forms  before  me,  or  the  one  who  occupied 
the  form  that  is  dead,  has  never  to  material  senses  been  tangible. 
We  have  never  come  directly  in  contact  with  him  or  her,  but 
always  through  the  mediation  of  the  outer  form.  Each  of  us, 
then,  in  our  real  self,  answers  to  the  common  idea  of  spirit: 
we  are  intangible. 

"And,   again,   each   of   us,   in  his  voluntary  action,  betrays 


THE    SPIRITUAL    BODY.  1 75 

purposes  and  desires,  intelligence  and  thought;  and  surely  we 
cannot  attribute  these  to  tangible  matter.  It  would  be  repug 
nant  to  all  our  sense  of  fact,  to  affirm  that  fasti  could  think  and 
purpose.  We  inevitably  refer  all  such  action  to  the  unseen.  It 
is  the  unseen  one  that  loves,  and  that  we  love. 

"And  now  with  reference  to  the  spiritual  body,  it  seems 
natural  to  conclude  that  these  secret  powers  exist  in  combina 
tion,  forming  an  interior  being.  We  refer  them  all  to  one,  and 
yet  each  is  distinct.  The  same  being  sees,  thinks,  and  loves. 
And  yet  seeing,  thinking,  and  loving  are  quite  different.  There 
is,  then,  an  organization  interior  to  this  physical  organization, 
possessing  in  itself  each  of  the  senses,  and  all  of  the  intellectual 
and  emotional  power  we  see  expressed  through  the  exterior 
form.  And,  being  so,  it  is  in  a  proper  sense  a  body.  It  is  in  all 
things,  but  its  texture,  like  the  body  we  see.  Only  in  this  (its 
texture),  can  we  mention  aught  that  the  body  possesses  that  the 
spirit  hath  not.  Indeed,  except  this  and  the  shape  of  humanity, 
the  body  hath  nothing  when  the  spirit  hath  gone  out.  It  hath 
no  senses,  no  power.  Here,  then,  we  have  not  only  the  exist 
ence  of  a  spirit,  but  a  spiritual  body,  in  the  sense  of  organi 
zation. 

"But  what  of  its  substance?  Hath  it  substance?  or,  is  it 
without?  I  have  often  received  the  impression  from  friends, 
that  they  supposed  a  spirit  to  be  without  substance.  Perhaps 
they  had  no  clear  conception  of  what  a  spirit  is.  Perhaps  I  was 
unable  to  receive  their  conception.  But,  so  far  as  able,  it 
seemed  to  be,  in  the  words  of  another,  '  the  most  definite  con 
ception  of  nothing  ever  given  to  mankind.'  And  yet  I  think 
it  manifest  that  spirit  hath  substance.  To  see  this  truth,  let  us 
inquire  what  we  mean  by  substance.  Do  we  mean  some  particu 
lar  thing?  No;  for  every  thing  is  substance.  Do  we  not  mean 
by  this  term  something,  in  distinction  from  nothing?  Can  we 
mean  any  thing  else?  Borrowing  an  illustration,  then,  think 
of  the  millions  of  human  bodies  now  being  moved  about  by 
spirits.  They  would  all  stop,  were  the  spirits  to  go  out.  Is  this 
immense  amount  of  substance  moved  without  substance, 
moved  by  nothing? 


176  PLANCHETTE. 

"  Further,  to  illustrate,  think  of  the  material  universe  all  in 
motion.  Go  with  the  astronomer  and  count  the  worlds.  En 
deavor,  then,  to  conceive  of  those  unseen  even  by  him.  Ask 
yourselves  of  the  immensity  of  their  weight.  You  cannot 
answer.  Well,  they  are  all  upheld ;  they  are  all  in  motion  with 
inconceivable  velocity.  And  by  what?  By  nothing?  By  no 
substance,  which  is  nothing?  No;  but  by  spirit,  which  is  the 
greatest  of  all  things.  By  an  immeasurable  organization  of 
spirit.  By  that  which  constitutes  all  that  is  unchangeable 
in  the  universe.  By  God,  who  is  a  spirit,  '  without  variable 
ness  or  shadow  of  turning.'  And  the  effort  to  conceive  of  God 
without  substance,  is  perilous  to  our  conviction  of  his  ex 
istence.  And  so  of  the  human  spirit.  In  such  an  attempt, 
we  grapple  with  the  impossible,  and  are  worsted  in  the  strug- 
gle.  .  .  . 

"  In  spirituality,  then,  I  think  you  must  bear  me  witness,  there 
is  nothing  to  forbid  the  thought  that  spirits  out  of  the  flesh 
reach  and  affect  those  in  the  flesh,  thus  triumphing  over  the 
death  of  the  body.  It  becomes,  then,  a  question  of  fact,  to  be 
determined  by  other  data.  In  the  absence  of  experience,  this 
may  be  doubted,  but  not  on  this  ground  dented.  In  the  pres 
ence  of  experience,  and  on  the  part  of  such  as  have  the 
evidence  of  their  own  senses  to  this  point,  it  must  be  affirmed. 
By  the  use  of  their  senses  they  are  to  be  judged,  and  must 
judge. 

"  Such  is  some  of  the  evidence  I  draw  from  our  common  knowl 
edge  ;  such  the  inferences  from  common  ground,  and  which,  for 
this  reason,  I  think  should  find  general  acceptance.  Evidence 
that  '  there  is  a  spiritual  body,'  indestructible,  independent  of  the 
physical,  and  hence  immortal" 

It  will  be  seen,  however,  as  we  proceed,  that  the  spiritual 
hypothesis  is  not  the  only  one  which  human  ingenuity  has 
invented  for  the  phenomena  of  clairvoyance  and  of  Spiritual 
ism.  Mr.  H.  G.  Atkinson,  who  was  associated  with  Miss  Mar- 
tineau  some  years  since  in  the  authorship  of  an  atheistic  book, 
in  which  some  of  the  phenomena  of  mesmerism  were  accepted 


SPIRITUALISM    ANTICIPATED.  177 

and  attributed,  as  they  were  by  Dr.  Elliotson,*  to  exclusively 
material  causes,  professes  to  be  not  at  all  inconvenienced  by  the 
added  wonders  of  Spiritualism.  He  admits  them  all,  but  is  too 
uncompromising  a  Comtean  to  allow  that  they  point  to  any 
thing  outside  of  this  barrier  of  flesh  and  blood. 

Seers  and  spirits  may  protest  as  much  as  they  please;  nay, 
the  latter  may  show  themselves  in  their  habits  as  they  lived,  — 
Mr.  Atkinson  is  inexorable. 

"I  think  it  can  now  be  shown,"  he  says,  referring  to  the 
spiritual  phenomena,  "  that  there  is  not  any  very  essential  dis 
tinction  between  these  extraordinary  facts  and  the  ordinary  ones 
of  every-day  life  ! " 

Shut  out  from  the  spiritual  hypothesis  by  his  whole  past  phi 
losophy,  Mr.  Atkinson  consoles  himself,  after  the  manner  of  the 
antediluvian  philosopher,  who,  according  to  the  profane,  was 
shut  out  from  the  ark  by  Noah,  and  who  revenged  himself 
on  the  patriarch  by  telling  him  that  "it  was  no  sort  of  conse 
quence  ;  for  he  believed  it  was  not  going  to  be  much  of  a  shower 
after  all." 

A  fact  of  importance,  in  connection  with  the  history  of 
animal  magnetism,  has  been  recently  brought  to  light  by  the 
French  Spiritualists.  This  fact  is  no  other  than  that  the 
magnetists  of  France  anticipated,  by  at  least  half  a  century, 
the  knowledge,  since  made  the  world's  property  by  the  events 


*  Dr.  Elliotson  surpassed  even  Mr.  Atkinson  in  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he 
sought  in  a  bald  materialism  for  a  sufficient  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  life. 
But,  as  we  have  already  seen  (page  20),  Dr.  Elliotson  came  right  at  last.  The  "  Lon 
don  Spiritual  Magazine  "  tells  us  that  when  modern  Spiritualism  was  introduced,  he 
was  one  of  the  most  scornful  of  its  opponents.  He  separated  himself  on  the  question 
from  his  old  friend  and  colleague  in  the  management  of  the  "  Zoist,"  Dr.  Ashburner; 
to  whom  it  must  have  been  a  source  of  great  satisfaction,  after  years  of  estrangement, 
that  Dr.  Elliotson's  conviction  of  the  truth  of  Spiritualism  was  the  means  of  re-estab 
lishing  their  former  friendship.  Spiritualism  was  not  with  Dr.  Elliotson  a  conviction 
barren  of  results.  It  revolutionized  the  philosophy  of  a  lifetime.  He  bitterly 
lamented  the  misdirected  efforts  he  had  made,  however  conscientiously,  in  the  pro 
mulgation  of  materialistic  principles.  He  became  a  thoroughly  changed  man,  and 
changed  in  all  respects  for  the  better. 

12 


ij  PLANCHETTE. 

at  Hydesville;  a  fact  which  is  proved  by  the  publication  of  the 
correspondence  of  the  two  celebrated  French  magnetic  philoso 
phers,  Messrs.  Billot  and  Deleuze,  in  two  volumes,  in  1836.  This 
correspondence  commenced  in  1829;  and  in  it  we  find  M.  Billot 
asserting  that  there  are  none  of  these  marvellous  things  that  he 
has  not  witnessed  during  the  last  thirty  years.* 

This  carries  his  knowledge  of  spiritual  phenomena  back  as 
far  as  1789,  the  period  of  the  commencement  of  the  French 
Revolution ;  into  the  period,  in  fact,  of  Lavater,  Jung-Stilling, 
Kerner,  Goethe,  San  Martin,  &c.  These  phenomena,  not  only 
known  to,  but  avowed  by,  those  distinguished  men,  were,  it  now 
appears,  equally  well  known  to  MM.  Billot  and  Deleuze,  who, 
as  scientific  men,  had  not,  however,  dared  to  reveal  them.  The 
sects  of  the  Initiated  and  the  Illuminati  were  well  acquainted 
with  these  phenomena  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen 
turies  ;  and  the  only  difference  to  note  is,  that  then  they  were 
familiar  only  to  a  few  who  kept  the  knowledge  of  them  to  a 
certain  extent  secret,  and  that  now  they  are  familiar  to  the  pub 
lic  at  large. 

But  there  is  another  circumstance  especially  noteworthy  in 
this  discovery  of  Spiritualism  amongst  the  magnetists,  which  is, 
that  the  class  of  scientific  men  among  them  has  been  as  a  body 
stoutly  opposed  to  the  admission  of  Spiritualism  as  a  fact.  In 
England,  we  know  with  what  pertinacity  Dr.  Elliotson  and 
others  resisted  for  many  years  the  conviction  that  spiritual 
phenomena  underlie  those  of  magnetism ;  or,  in  other  words, 
mesmerism.  So  in  France,  Dupotet,  Morin,  and  the  rest  of 
them  fought  hard  against  this  conviction ;  and  so  much  so,  that 
M.  Morin,  the  successor  of  Baron  Dupotet,  has  eonstantly  re 
sisted  the  invitations  of  the  Spiritualists  to  witness  spiritual 
phenomena. 

Here,  however,  we  have  the  curious  fact  of  two  of  the  most 

*  For  this  abstract  of  the  correspondence,  we  are  largely  indebted  to  a  paper  by 
William  Howitt  (July,  1868).  We  can  mention  no  man  who  has  been  more  earnest, 
indefatigable,  and  courageous  in  his  advocacy  of  the  truths  of  Spiritualism  than  Mr. 
Howitt. 


BILLOT    AND    DELEUZE.  1 79 

celebrated  magnetic  philosophers  of  France,  avowing  after  a 
concealment  of  the  fact  through  a  career  of  half  a  century,  that 
they  all  the  time,  whilst  prosecuting  their  magnetic  inquiries, 
had  become  fully  aware  of  other  and  still  more  wonderful  phe 
nomena  supervening  and  arising  out  of  those  inquiries  which 
they  prosecuted  with  no  such  expectations.  These  arose  like 
apparitions  upon  them,  startling  and  astonishing  them,  like  the 
genius  which  stood  before  Aladdin  when  he  rubbed  his  lamp, 
meaning  only  to  polish  it,  and  with  no  idea  further  from  his 
mind  than  that  his  friction  was  the  invocation  of  a  spirit.  So 
MM.  Billot  and  Deleuze,  experimenting  only  in  magnetism, 
and  expecting  none  but  strictly  natural  though  abstruse  results, 
found  that  they  were  pressing  on  those  secret  and  mysterious 
springs  and  laws  of  life  which  awake  the  attention  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  invisible,  and  cause  them  to  manifest  their 
presence. 

It  is  still  more  remarkable  that  these  two  great  magnetists  — 
who  had  published,  each,  work  after  work,  and  whose  names 
were  famous  in  that  science  —  did  not  work  in  company,  or  with 
a  knowledge  of  each  other's  proceedings.  They  had  each  their 
own  avowed  theory,  differing  greatly  one  from  the  other ;  and 
these  they  had  propounded  and  defended  with  zeal  and  persist 
ency,  till  they  had  acquired  a  certain  character  of  antagonism. 
All  this  time,  however,  their  writings  bore  to  the  ordinary  reader 
no  traces  of  any  thing  but  the  legitimate  facts  and  doctrines  of 
magnetism.  But,  to  these  great  antagonist  magnates  of  science, 
there  was  something  in  their  language  which  awoke  a  more 
than  ordinary  sensation  in  each  other;  and,  opening  a  corre 
spondence,  they  began  to  approach  each  other,  putting  forth  the 
delicate  feelers  of  an  intense  curiosity,  grounded  on  a  conviction 
that  each  possessed  secret  knowledge  that  he  had  not  yet  laid 
open  to  the  light,  and  that  this  knowledge  was,  in  reality,  the 
property  of  both.  They  had  each  a  consciousness  that,  whilst 
they  had  been  going  along  separate  and  even  hostile  paths,  they 
had  been  treading  the  very  same  enchanted  ground,  and  were 
twins  in  a  life  which  they  had  hitherto  hidden  from  each  other 
and  from  mankind. 


l8o  PLANCHETTE. 

On  the  24th  of  March,  1829,  M.  Deleuze  wrote  to  M.  Billot, 
complaining  that  certain  magnetizers  made  their  experiments 
out  of  mere  curiosity.  To  this  implied  censure  Billot  replied, 
on  the  9th  of  April,  that  modern  magnetizers  had  many  humilia 
tions  to  suffer  from  the  jealousies  of  their  confreres ;  but  he  now 
abandoned  his  cause  to  God,  who  had  done  great  things  for  him. 
"Yes!"  said  he,  advancing  more  boldly,  "I  have  seen,  I  have 
understood  all  that  it  is  permitted  to  man  to  see  and  know!" 
Still  going  further  in  his  enthusiasm,  and  stimulated  by  the 
conviction  that  Deleuze  himself  had  arrived  at  discoveries  like 
his  own,  he  says,  "  Permit  me  to  observe  that  all  that  you  write 
seems  to  me  to  betray  une  arriere  pensee  (an  after  thought). 
Your  theory  is  only  a  solemn  ruse  to  avoid  scandalizing  the 
esprits  forts  who  will  have  nothing  of  the  positive." 

The  ice  was  now  broken,  and  the  two  great  magnetists  pro 
ceed  to  make  a  clean  breast  of  it  to  each  other.  M.  Billot,  never 
theless,  is  by  far  the  more  open,  and  is  ready  to  throw  off  the 
cautious  disguise  that  they  both  had  worn  for  so  many  years. 
It  turns  out,  in  the  end,  that  they  have  seen  nearly  all  the  phe 
nomena  of  modern  Spiritualism,  —  apparitions,  elevations  of  the 
person  into  the  air,  the  fact  of  material  substances  being  brought 
by  spirits,  obsessions  and  possessions  by  spirits,  and  nearly  all 
the  wonders  which  the  ancient  philosophers  and  the  priests  of 
different  churches  have  declared  as  truths ;  and  all  this,  be 
it  remembered,  long  before  the  knockings  at  Hydesville  opened 
up  the  great  drama  of  renewed  spirit-intercourse  in  our  time. 
But  it  will  be  interesting  to  trace  this  remarkable  correspond 
ence  a  little  further  in  its  natural  course. 

On  the  27th  February,  1830,  M.  Billot  writes  to  M.  Deleuze, 
assuring  him  that  he  stated  to  him  the  whole  truth  regarding 
the  extraordinary  phenomena  manifested  through  his  clairvoy- 
ante,  Mademoiselle  Mathieu,  and  that  he  will  never  deviate 
from  this  in  his  communication  of  his  experiences ;  and  he  pro 
ceeds  to  reveal  to  him  things  which,  he  says,  he  will  probably 
regard  as  reveries,  and  then  adds,  "You  would  not  have  com 
bated  the  theory  of  spirits  for  these  forty  years,  if,  like  me,  you 


SPIRITUALISM    ANTICIPATED.  l8l 

had  had  under  your  eyes  and  your  hands  the  masses  of  facts 
which  have  compelled  me  to  adopt  it."  He  then  gives  some 
curious  facts  concerning  a  clairvoyante  in  a  state  of  wake- 
fulness. 

Deleuze,  on  the  I5th  of  May,  avows  that  he  has  seen  lucids 
in  that  state.  "Dr.  Chase,"  he  says,  "reports  having  seen  the 
same ; "  and  then  he  makes  the  candid  confession,  "  I  have 
suppressed  many  things  in  my  works,  because  it  was  not  yet  the 
time  to  disclose  them."  Billot,  on  the  i6th  of  June,  touches 
on  certain  particulars  of  somnambulism,  which  Deleuze  in  his 
writings  had  affected  to  treat  as  inexplicable ;  but  he  insinuates 
that  he  is  quite  satisfied  that  they  now  understand  each  other  on 
these  points.  After  referring  to  various  passages  in  Deleuze's 
writings,  "  between  us,  Monsieur,"  continues  Billot,  "  what 
need  of  so  much  reserve?  In  spite  of  your  reticences,  I  under 
stand  you." 

In  his  reply,  on  the  24th  of  September,  Deleuze  treats  of 
matter  at  great  length,  and  at  first  professes  to  think  that  the 
only  thing  which  proves  the  communication  of  spirits  with  us, 
are  apparitions ;  but  again,  thawing  a  little  more,  he  says, 
if  his  health  permit,  he  will  write  an  article  in  the  "  Hermes  "  on 
psychical  phenomena,  in  which  he  will  free  himself  from  the 
reserve  which  he  too,  hitherto,  imposed  on  himself,  and  of 
which  M.  Billo.t  has  divined  the  real  cause.  "  These  facts," 
he  says,  "are  now  so  numerous  and  so  well  known,  that  it  is 
time  to  speak  the  truth." 

On  the  24th  of  June,  1831,  M.  Billot  wrote  to  M.  Deleuze, 
that  in  reading  his  works,  he  had  seen  that  certain  phenomena 
had  been  already  familiar  to  him  before  he  himself  had  entered 
on  his  career,  and  that  there  was  nothing  of  the  marvellous  of 
which  he  had  not  been  a  witness  during  the  thirty  or  forty  years 
of  his  magnetic  experience.  "If  you  have  not  made  mention 
of  these  things,"  he  added,  "you  have  lost  your  reason  for 
keeping  silence."  To  this  M.  Deleuze,  on  the  Qth  of  July,  re 
plied  that  he  had  designedly  avoided  the  statement  of  marvel 
lous  facts,  considering  it  not  always  necessary  to  show  these  to 


I 82  PLANCHETTE. 

the  incredulous,  as  being  indeed  not  the  most  likely  way  to  con 
vince  them. 

Billot  then  went  on  much  further  with  his  cautious  corre 
spondent,  who,  though  he  did  not  reveal  much,  was  forced  to 
confess  that  his  friend  had  penetrated  into  his  secret,  and  that 
he  knew  a  great  deal.  "The  time,"  said  M.  Billot,  "is  come 
when  I  ought  to  have  no  further  concealment  from  you.  I 
repeat  that  I  have  seen  and  known  all  that  it  is  permitted  to  man 
to  see  and  know.  I  have  been  witness  of  an  ecstasy,  not  such  as 
Dr.  Bertrand  imagines,  but  I  have  seen  magnetic  clairvoyants 
with  stigmata.  I  have  seen  obsessions  and  possessions,  which 
have  been  dissipated  by  a  single  word :  I  have  seen  many  other 
things,  which  others  have  seen  also,  but  which  the  spirit  of  this 
age  has  not  permitted  them  to  reveal.  I  am  an  esprit  fort ;  and 
that  which  the  priests  have  not  been  able  to  do  now  for  many 
years,  magnetism  has  accomplished.  The  truths  of  religion 
have  been  demonstrated  by  it" 

He  then  proceeds  to  relate  some  of  these  revelations,  which 
very  much  resemble  the  teachings  of  the  ancient  philosophers, 
mingled  with  that  of  Christianity,  —  doctrines  which  prepared 
the  way  for  the  inculcations  of  Spiritualism.  Superior  intelli 
gences,  he  says,  presented  themselves ;  presided  at  stances,  and 
manifested  themselves  by  the  delicious  odors  which  they  diffused 
around  them.  The  ambrosia  of  the  mythologists,  the  odor  of 
sanctity  of  the  Church  were  discovered  to  be  realities.  Evil 
and  unclean  spirits  also  presented  themselves ;  but  the  clairvoy 
ants  immediately  recognized  them  (July  23,  1831).  These  and 
other  statements,  M.  Billot  says,  which  he  extracted  from  the 
journals  of  the  stances,  could  never  have  seen  the  light  of  day, 
had  he  not  deemed  it  for  the  interest  of  the  great  science  to 
confide  them  to  the  bosom  of  prudent  and  discreet  friendship ; 
and,  on  the  Qth  of  September,  he  announces  that  he  is  about  to 
proceed  to  more  substantial  proofs  of  the  apparition  of  spirits,  — 
such  as,  he  says,  it  will  be  impossible  to  deny  or  to  diminish : 
for  these  spirits  were  tangible  ;  you  both  saw  and  touched  them. 
Perhaps,  he  adds.  M.  Deleuze  may  think  these  things  a  little 


PHENOMENA    AMONG   MAGNETISTS.  183 

too  marvellous  for  belief;  but  his  doubt  will  no  longer  be  par 
donable  when  he  may  touch  them  himself,  and  touch  them 
again.  What  he  sajs  on  September  30,  must  convince  the  most 
skeptical :  there  is  neither  illusion  nor  vision.  He  and  his  co- 
secretaries  have  seen  and  felt,  and  he  calls  God  to  witness  the 
truth  of  it. 

On  the  6th  of  November,  1831,  Deleuze  writes,  that  he  is 
greatly  grieved  that  the  state  of  his  health  and  his  great  age  will 
not  permit  him  to  make  a  journey  to  see  M.  Billot,  as  he  most 
anxiously  desires ;  that  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is  proved  to 
him,  and  the  possibility  of  communicating  -with  spirits  ;  but  that, 
personally,  he  has  not  seen  facts  equal  to  those  cited  by  Billot. 
Nevertheless,  persons  worthy  of  all  confidence  have  made  the 
like  reports  to  him.  "I  have  this  morning,"  he  continues, 
"  seen  a  very  distinguished  physician,  who  has  related  to  me 
some  of  your  facts,  without  naming  you,  and  who  gave  me  many 
others  of  a  like  character.  Amongst  others,  his  clairvoyants 
caused  material  objects  to  present  themselves.  I  know  not  what  to 
think  of  all  this,  though  I  am  as  certain  of  the  sincerity  of  my 
medical  friend,  as  I  am  of  yours.  I  cannot  conceive  how  spiritual 
beings  are  able  to  carry  material  objects." 

M.  Billot,  on  the  25th  of  June,  1832,  wrote  that  in  the  doctrine 
of  Spiritualism  the  question  is  not  of  opinions  but  of  facts  :  these 
are  the  things  which  lead  to  the  truth ;  but  neither  the  mag- 
netizers  nor  the  magnetized  can  reproduce  these  at  will. 

On  another  occasion,  M.  Deleuze  remarks  that  "  the  clairvoy 
ant  seizes  rapports  innumerable.  He  catches  them  with  an 
extreme  rapidity :  he  runs,  in  a  minute,  through  a  series  of  ideas 
which,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  would  demand  many  hours. 
Time  seems  to  disappear  before  him.  He  is  himself  astonished 
at  the  variety  and  rapidity  of  these  reflections.  He  is  led  to  at 
tribute  them  to  the  inspiration  of  another  intelligence.  Anon, 
he  perceives  in  himself  this  new-being.  He  considers  himself  in 
the  clairvoyant  sleep  a  different  person  from  himself  awake. 
He  speaks  of  himself  in  the  third  person,  as  some  one  whom  he 
has  known,  on  whom  he  comments,  whom  he  advises,  and  in 


184  PI.ANCHETTE. 

whom  he  takes  more  or  less  interest,  as  if  himself  in  somnam 
bulism  and  himself  awake  were  two  different  persons." 

M.  Deleuze  finishes  by  urging  M.  Billot  to  publish  his  experi 
ences,  but  with  his  habitual  caution  counsels  him  to  suppress  the 
most  astounding  facts.  Billot  heroically  determines  to  victimize 
himself  for  the  truth,  to  brave  the  sarcasms  of  the  learned ; 
"For,"  he  observes,  "to  talk  of  spirits  in  France,  where  the 
majority  of  the  magnetists  hold  fast  by  their  accepted  theory,  of 
merely  material  agencies,  is  to  become  an  object  of  contemptuous 
pity." 

He  was  also  aware  of  another  difficulty,  —  the  uncertainty  of 
securing  successful  seances;  which,  whilst  the  causes  affecting 
them  are  but  partially  understood,  so  often  fail  in  the  presence 
of  the  determinedly  skeptical. 

Such  was  the  correspondence  of  the  two  celebrated  magnetists, 
at  a  time  when  Spiritualism  in  its  present  phase  was  yet  unheard 
of.  The  great  facts  of  spiritual  life  thus  bursting  upon  them  in 
pursuance  of  their  scientific  experiments  in  magnetism,  and  in 
opposition  to  all  their  prejudices,  as  well  as  most  contrary  to 
their  expectations,  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  curious 
and  most  interesting  events  in  the  annals  of  Spiritualism.  Be 
sides  the  transport  of  material  objects  by  invisible  agents,  the 
spirits  which  appeared  to  them  were  solid  to  the  touch,  as  they 
have  so  often  made  themselves  since.  Living  persons  were  ele 
vated  in  the  air  in  their  seances.  Dr.  Schmidt,  of  Vienna,  and  Dr. 
Charpignon,  of  Orleans,  also  give  some  striking  cases  of  deli 
cious  odors,  or  cadaverous  effluvia  issuing  from  pure  or  impure 
spirits  which  presented  themselves  :  the  most  startling  commu 
nications  of  facts  otherwise  unknown  were  made ;  and  they  had 
cases  of  obsession  and  possession  as  well  as  of  successful  exor 
cism. 

After  all  the  confessions  of  M.  Deleuze,  he  afterwards  was 
greatly  tempted,  like  Sir  David  Brewster,  to  recover  favor  with 
his  scientific  and  incredulous  contemporaries.  Becoming  one  of 
the  chiefs  of  magnetic  initiation,  he  endeavored  to  weaken  or  to 
neutralize  the  force  of  his  avowals.  A  gentleman  well  instructed 


BILLOT    AND    DELEUZE.  185 

in  these  mysteries,  wrote  to  him  thus  :  "You  have  endeavored  to 
fortify  your  readers,  in  your  journal,  against  the  system  of  the 
magnetists  of  the  North,  who  admit  superhuman  powers  as 
intermediates  in  certain  magnetic  phenomena.  I  would  take 
the  liberty  of  observing  to  you  that  this  is  not  at  all  a  system 
with  them ;  but  the  simple  enunciation  of  a  fact,  that  a  great 
number  of  their  somnambulists,  raised  to  a  high  degree  of  lucid 
ity,  have  asserted  that  they  were  illuminated  and  conducted  by  a 
spiritual  guide." 

The  answer  of  Deleuze  is  worthy  of  attention:  "The  facts 
which  seem  to  prove  the  communications  of  souls  separated  from 
matter  with  those  who  are  still  united  to  it,  are  innumerable,  as 
I  know.  These  are  existent  in  all  religions,  are  believed  by  all 
nations,  are  recorded  in  all  histories,  may  be  collected  in  society ; 
and  the  phenomena  of  magnetism  present  a  great  number  of 
them.  Yes  :  a  great  number  of  somnambulists  have  affirmed 
that  they  have  conversed  with  spiritual  intelligences ;  they  have 
been  inspired  and  guided  by  them  :  and  I  will  tell  you  why  I 
have  thought  it  best  not  to  insist  on  such  facts  and  proofs  of 
spirit  communication.  It  is  because  I  have  feared  that  it  might 
excite'the  imagination,  might  trouble  human  reason,  and  lead  to 
dangerous  consequences." 

Deleuze  did  not,  when  thus  challenged,  walk  backwards  out  of 
his  previous  avowals,  like  some  on  the  other  side  of  the  water : 
he  was  only  timid  and  cautious,  not  untruthful.  The  frank 
bravery  of  M.  Billot,  in  regard  to  a  truth  which  he  knew  would 
be  unpopular,  is  deserving  of  the  highest  praise. 

The  author  of  these  valuable  papers  has  given  a  number  of 
other  instances  amongst  the  magnetists  who  have  arrived  at  the 
same  conclusions  as  MM.  Billot  and  Deleuze,  in  the  same  man 
ner.  They  have  found  themselves  in  contact  with  unmistakable 
spirits,  when  they  have  been  expecting  merely  the  operations  of 
magnetic  laws.  Amongst  these  were  M.  Bertrand,  physician, 
and  member  of  the -Royal  Society  of  Sciences.  Baron  Dupotet 
declared  that  he  had  rediscovered  in  magnetism  the  spiritology 
of  the  ancients,  and  that  he  himself  believed  in  the  world  of 
spirits. 


iSS 


PLANCHETTE. 


"  Let  the  savant"  he  says,  "  reject  the  doctrine  of  spiritual 
appearances  as  one  of  the  grand  errors  of  the  past  ages ;  but  the 
profound  inquirer  of  to-day  is  compelled  to  believe  this  by  a  seri 
ous  examination  of  facts." 

Dupotet  asserts  the  truth  of  all  the  powers  assumed  by  anti 
quity  and  by  the  church,  by  all  religions,  indeed,  such  as  work 
ing  miracles  and  healing  the  sick.  "  When,"  he  says,  "  lightning, 
or  other  powerful  agents  of  nature,  produce  formidable  effects, 
nobody  is  astonished ;  but  let  an  unknown  element  startle  us,  let 
this  element  appear  to  obey  thought,  then  reason  rejects  it ;  and, 
nevertheless,  it  is  a  truth  ;  for  we  have  seen  and  felt  the  effects  of 
this  terrible  power."  Terrible,  however,  only  when  nature  is  not 
understood  as  Spiritualism  has  revealed  it.  "  If,"  adds  Dupotet, 
"the  knowledge  of  ancient  magic  is  lost,  the  facts  remain  on 
which  to  reconstruct  it."  He  exclaims,  "No  more  doubt,  no 
more  uncertainty :  magic  is  rediscovered." 

He  then  gives  a  number  of  phenomena  produced  of  a  most 
extraordinary  kind,  and  laughs  at  those  brave  champions  of  sci 
ence  who,  far  from  danger,  talk  with  a  loud  and  firm  tone,  reason 
on  just  what  they  themselves  know,  and  pay  no  regard  to  the 
practical  knowledge  of  others;  who,  in  fact,  hug  their  doubts,  as 
we,  with  more  reason,  hug  our  faith. 

These  avowals  were  made  in  1840,  long  before  the  American 
phenomena  or  those  of  Vienna  were  heard  of.  But  as  Spirit 
ualism  began  to  show  itself  as  a  distinct  faith,  the  majority  of 
magnetists  took  the  alarm.  Those  who,  like  Messieurs  Bertrand, 
D'Hunin,  Puysegur,  and  Seguin,  had  stood  on  the  very  threshold 
of  Spiritualism,  began  to  step  back  a  step  or  two,  and  to  shroud 
themselves  in  mystery,  and  to  shake  their  heads  at  the  prospect 
of  awful  consequences  in  pushing  further  on  such  a  path. 

"The  magnetic  forces  cannot  be  explained,"  said  Puysegur. 
"  We  have  no  organs,"  said  M.  Morin,  "  for  discovering  spiritual 
beings."  "The  real  causes  of  apparitions,  of  objects  displaced, 
of  suspensions,  and  of  a  great  portion  of  the  marvellous,"  said 
D'Hunin  and  Bertrand,  "  are  inscrutable." 

Seguin,  who  thought  that  magnetism  would  revolutionize  the 


IT    IS    ALL    CLAIRVOYANCE.  187 

whole  of  science,  starts,  and  stands  still :  he  finds  himself  on 
the  brink  of  a  precipice.  Inaccessible  to  danger,  however,  M. 
Seguin  would  wish  to  pursue  his  researches ;  but  wisdom  com 
mands  him  to  stop  on  the  edge  of  an  abyss,  which  no  man,  he 
affirms,  can  ever  pass  with  impunity. 

|  What  is  the  precipice  which  M.  Seguin  and  his  fellow-magne- 
tists  see  at  their  feet?  Simply,  the  precipice  of  Spiritualism. 
The  spiritual  world  opens  before  them  when  they  desire  only  to 
deal  with  this.  In  the  words  of  Baron  Dupotet,  "  There  is  an 
agent  in  space,  whence  we  ourselves,  our  inspiration,  and  our 
intelligence  proceed  ;  and  that  agent  is  the  spiritual  world  which 
surrounds  us."  A  step  further,  and  the  magnetists  were  aware 
that  they  must  cut  the  cable  which  held  them  to  the  rest  of  the 
scientific  world,  and  float  away  into  the  ocean  of  spiritual 
causation.  They  must  consent  to  forfeit  the  name  of  philoso 
phers,  and  to  suffer  that  of  fanatics  in  the  mouths  of  the  ma 
terial  savaus.^ 

We  find  in  a  late  number  of  the  "  London  Spiritual  Magazine," 
a  paper,  by  Mr.  R.  H.  Brown,  on  the  relations  of  clairvoyance  to 
the  facts  of  Spiritualism.  We  do  but  condense  his  admirably 
clear  and  logical  statement  in  the  remarks  on  the  subject,  which 
follow  to  page  195  :  — 

"  It  is  all  clairvoyance !  "  Such  is  the  objection  made  by  many 
who  have  slightly  investigated  the  spiritual  phenomena.  Thus 
it  is  that  Spiritualism  has  come  to  the  aid  of  clairvoyance. 
Before  the  advent  of  Spiritualism,  clairvoyance  was  denounced 
as  the  great  "humbug"  of  the  day.  Nearly  all  the  scientific 
men  of  the  land  shook  their  heads,  and  lamented  the  credulous, 
wonder-loving  ignorance  of  poor  human  nature.  Now,  as  the 
world  moves,  and  as  the  phenomena  of  Spiritualism  come  up, 
these  same  wise  gentlemen  would  use  what  they  denounced  as 
the  "humbug"  of  yesterday  as  the  truth  of  to-day;  that  is,  to 
help  them  to  explain  these  more  advanced  facts! 

"It  is  all  clairvoyance!"  But  what  is  clairvoyance?  Its 
phenomena  may  be  briefly  described  as  follows  :  Persons  thrown 
into  the  somnambulic  trance  by  animal  magnetism,  through  the 


1 88  PLANCHETTE. 

agency  of  an  operator,  or  falling  into  the  same  state  involunta 
rily,  have  been  known  to  see  without  the  aid  of  the  physical  or 
external  organs  of  vision,  and  'without  the  assistance  of  light. 
Books  are  read -as  well  in  the  darkness  of  night  as  in  the  full 
glare  of  noonday.  Objects  and  scenes,  at  great  distances,  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  external  organs  of  vision,  are  seen  and 
described.  The  clear  sight  of  the  clairvoyant  mind  not  only 
penetrates  through  the  most  opaque  and  dense  substances,  but 
also  sees  the  thoughts  that  bud  and  blossom  in  the  inmost  re 
cesses  of  the  soul.  The  past  is  illuminated,  and  its  most  hidden 
passages  revealed ;  and  the  future,  hidden  by  an  impenetrable 
veil  from  the  normal  eye,  prophetically  presents  its  yet  unrolled 
panorama,  and  stamps  upon  the  clairvoyant  mind  the  impress 
of  its  coming  form.  This  is  clairvoyance.  Now  let  me  ask  the 
candid  investigator  ivhat  it  is  that  sees  without  the  physical  eyes, 
and  'without  the  assistance  of  light  f 

It  is  evident  that  neither  the  optic  nerves  nor  the  crystalline 
lens  are  employed  by  those  who  read  a  book,  amid  the  darkness 
of  midnight,  unaided  by  a  single  ray  of  light.  The  answer  to 
this  question  is  all-important;  for  therein,  hidden,  lies  the  golden 
key  which  will  unlock  all  the  mysteries  of  Spiritualism.  What 
is  normal  sight?  What  is  it  that  sees  when  the  natural  or 
external  eye,  together  with  light,  are  the  mediums  of  perception? 
It  is  evident  that  the  mei-e  fluid  called  light  cannot  see,  neither 
can  the  lens  or  humors  of  the  eye,  nor  the  optic  nerve,  nor  a 
combination  of  these ;  for  light  and  visual  organs  are  only  the 
media  by  which  perception  is  conveyed  to  that  mysterious 
something  which  lies  hidden  within. 

In  ordinary  or  normal  sight,  three  things  are  employed:  the 
object,  the  eye,  and  the  light  which  serves  as  the  connecting  link 
or  medium  of  contact  between  the  eye  and  the  object.  The  eye, 
like  a  beautiful  and  delicate  camera  obscura,  paints  with  fidelity 
the  picture  of  the  exterior  world  upon  the  retina.  It  is  the 
immortal  soul  ivhich  stands  behind  the  curtain,  and  gazes  on  the 
sh  if  ting  panorama. 

Let  the  soul  be  absent,  and  sight  ceases,  though  the  organ  be 


CLAIRVOYANCE    ENDS    MATERIALISM.  109 

perfect :  it  becomes  but  a  common  camera  obscura,  —  the  mere 
arrangement  of  parts  for  the  production  of  a  picture.  The 
picture  is  perfect,  but  there  is  no  spectator.  When  a  person  falls 
into  a  state  of  profound  abstraction,  the  eyes,  though  open,  often 
cease  to  convey  any  idea  of  sight  to  the  soul.  This  is  because 
the  attention  of  the  spectator  behind  the  curtain  is  turned  in 
another  direction :  he  does  not  regard  the  panorama  which 
moves  along  the  darkened  curtains  of  the  eye.  The  materialists 
reply  to  this,  that  sight  is  not  the  result  of  the  attentive  percep 
tion  of  the  soul  to  the  pictorial  sensations  of  the  optic  nerve. 
They  tell  us  that  the  soul  has  no  separate  and  distinct  existence 
apart  from  the  body.  Light,  they  claim,  is  but  sensation ;  and 
sensation  is  the  result  of  organization.  When  the  organization 
ceases,  sensation  will  cease;  and  when  sensation  ceases,  the 
whole  being  ceases  to  be;  for  organization  and  sensation,  say 
they,  compose  the  whole  of  man  :  there  is  no  soul. 

This  method  of  argument  is  plausible.  But  the  moment  that 
sight  is  proved  to  exist  tuithotti  the  use  of  either  light,  sensation, 
or  any  of  the  physical  and  material  organs  of  vision,  the  whole 
pyramid  of  their  logic  falls  to  the  ground. 

Thus  it  is  that  clairvoyance  furnishes  the  most  conclusive 
answer  to  the  materialists,  and  presents  the  most  satisfactory 
proof  of  the  existence  of  the  soul,  separate  from  the  body,  re 
siding  within  it,  generally  employing  its  organs  for  the  reception 
of  ideas,  but  at  times  acting  independently  of  them,  and  obtaining 
information  without  their  aid.  By  clairvoyance,  we  have  thus 
shown  the  truth  of  the  first  proposition  upon  which  Spiritualism 
rests(?-/the  existence  of  a  dual  nature  in  man,  a  soul  as  well  as  a 
body. 

The  second  proposition,  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  new 
philosophy f-is\  the  existence  of  a  spiritual  body,  interfusing  and 
permeating  the"  physical,  material,  or  natural  body. 

If,  in  an  obscure  field,  you  should  pick  up  the  fragments  of 
the  bones  of  an  arm,  the  inference  that  there  had  once  been  a 
full  and  complete  organization,  of  which  the  fragments  before 
you  were  a  part,  would  be  logical  and  correct.  The  naturalist 


9O  PLANCHETTE. 

is  enabled,  from  the  fragment  of  the  skeleton  of  an  extinct  ante- 
diluvial  animal,  to  reconstruct  the  whole,  and  draw  the  portrait 
of  a  creature  which  existed  before  the  flood. 

Let  us  apply  this  method  to  the  subject  under  consideration. 

The  clairvoyant  mind  sees  without  the  aid  of  light,  or  the 
assistance  of  the  external  or  physical  eye. 

The  soul  does  not  leave  the  body  to  place  itself  in  direct 
contact  with  the  object  seen ;  therefore  the  mind  must  have 
some  medium  of  sight.  This  medium  of  perception  is  neither 
light  nor  the  optic  nerve.  What,  then,  is  it?  It  is  not  the  odic* 
force  simply;  for  there  must  be  some  means  -whereby  the  character 
of  the  impression  conveyed  by  the  odic  force  is  determined  and 
individualized,  —  some  agency  whereby  the  impression  of  sight 
is  made  distinguishable  from  that  of  hearing,  or  the  impression 
made  by  an  abstract  idea.  It  is  the  peculiar  function  of  an  organ 
to  individualize  and  characterize  the  nature  of  an  impression 
received. 

A  simple  object  —  for  instance,  a  tree  —  makes  upon  the 
physical  body  a  multitude  of  impressions ;  and  it  is  the  various 
organs  of  the  body  which  individualize  these  impressions.  The 
impression  which  the  size,  form,  and  color  of  the  tree  makes  is 
individualized  and  characterized  by  the  organs  of  sight.  The 
impressions  which  its  hardness  and  impenetrability  make  are 
individualized  and  characterized  by  the  sense  of  touch.  If  it 
were  not  for  this,  the  mind  would  receive  a  mass  of  confused 
impressions,  without  possessing  any  means  to  analyze,  arrange, 
or  distinguish  them.  As  a  prism  separates  and  individualizes 
the  various  colors  which  compose  a  ray  of  sunlight,  so  the  senses 
separate  and  individualize  the  combined  impressions  which  an 
object  makes  upon  the  physical  organism,  and  present  them  in 
an  orderly  and  defined  spectrum  to  the  mind. 

*  This  word  odic  is  derived  from  the  Greek  666c,  a  way  or  passage.  Reichenbach 
gave  the  name  od  to  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  force  producing  the  phenomena  of 
mesmerism,  and  developed  by  various  agencies,  as  by  magnets,  heat,  light,  chemical  or 
vital  action.  The  terms  odyle,  or  the  odyllic  or  odic  force,  were  thought  preferable  by 
his  English  disciples. 


NATURE'S  GUARANTEE.  191 

If  the  reader  has  followed  with  close  attention  our  train  of 
reflection,  he  will  be  prepared  for  the  conclusion  at  which  we 
have  arrived,  to  wit :  If  the  mind  sees  without  the  aid  of  light  or 
the  assistance  of  the  optic  nerve,  it  must  have  some  other  medium 
by  which  the  simple  impression  of  sight  can  be  individualized, 
and  presented  separate  and  distinct  from  all  other  impressions ; 
or,  in  other  words,  there  must  be  a  spiritual  organ  of  sight, 
distinct  and  separate  from  the  physical  organ  of  sight. 

The  remainder  of  our  task  is  now  simple  and  easy;  for  if 
there  is  a  spiritual  organ  of  sight,  there  must  also  be  a  spiritual 
organ  for  the  individualization  of  all  the  other  impressions.  In 
nature,  each  part  is  adapted  to  all  the  other  parts,  and  the  exist 
ence  of  one  part  presupposes  the  existence  of  all  the  other  parts. 
If  there  is  a  spiritual  organ  of  sight,  there  must  also  be  a 
complete  spiritual  organization  or  body,  interfused  with  and 
permeating  the  physical  body. 

Nature,  our  wise  and  powerful  mother,  fore-adapts  every 
thing  for  the  conditions  amid  which  she  intends  it  shall  live. 
How  shall  we  escape  the  conclusion,  that  by  adapting  the  soul 
to  another  state  of  being,  and  endowing  it  for  that  purpose  with 
the  power  to  exist,  act,  think,  see,  and  hear,  without  the  aid  of 
the  body,  and  separated  from  it,  Nature  has  given  us  her  solemn 
and  sacred  guarantee  that  ^ve  shall  live  hereafter  ?  To  arrive  at 
any  other  conclusion,  is  to  charge  Nature  with-the  weakness  of 
creating  that  which  is  useless,  and  God  of  the  folly  of  adapting 
man  to  a  sphere  of  existence  which  he  does  not  intend  him  to 
enjoy. 

All  the  arguments  which  have  ever  been  made  against  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  are  based  upon  the  idea,  that  the  soul 
has  no  identity  of  being  separate  from  the  body.  From  which 
premise  the  conclusion  is  correctly  drawn,  that  the  soul  and  body, 
being  one  in  substance,  must  perish  together.  But  clairvoyance 
demonstrates  to  us  that  this  premise  is  false,  and  teaches  us  that 
the  soul  and  the  body  are  not  one  in  substance;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  that  the  former  can  think,  act,  see,  and  hear  without 
the  aid  of  the  latter,  and  independent  of  all  its  organs.  It  is 


192  PLANCHETTE. 

thus  that  clairvoyance,  with  a  mighty  hand,  crushes  to  powder 
the  labored  logic  of  the  materialists,  and  places  the  belief  in  our 
immortal  nature  upon  a  firm  and  scientific  basis. 

But  again,  clairvoyance,  by  demonstrating  the  truthful  char 
acter  of  the  teachings  of  intuition,  has  afforded  conclusive  proof 
of  a  higher  sphere  of  existence.  God  has  given  man  two  methods 
of  attaining  a  knowledge  of  truth,  —  intuition  and  reason.  The 
one  is  intended  to  prove  the  correctness  of  the  other,  thus 
affording  man  the  highest  evidence  of  truth,  by  giving  him  the 
power  to  arrive  at  the  same  results  by  two  distinct  and  totally 
diverse  mental  operations.  What  intuition  and  reason  both 
affirm  to  be  true,  no  man  need  doubt. 

It  is  true  that  neither  is  infallible;  and  he  who  expects  to  find 
any  human  faculty  infallible  in  its  nature,  only  betrays  his  own 
ignorance  of  the  laws  of  mind  and  matter.  Nevertheless,  intui 
tion  is  a  faculty  of  the  soul,  just  as  reliable  as  that  of  reason,  and 
the  teachings  of  the  one  may  be  reposed  upon  with  as  much  con 
fidence  as  those  of  the  other.  Clairvoyance  has  demonstrated 
beyond  all  cavil  the  truthful  character  of  intuition. 

What  does  intuition  say  in  regard  to  the  immortal  nature  of 
the  soul? 

There  is  not  a  clairvoyant  in  the  world,  no  matter  what  may 
be  his  normal  belief,  who  does  not  affirm  the  existence  of  the 
soul  after  death  has  destroyed  the  clay-built  palace  wherein  it 
dwells  during  its  brief  residence  upon  earth. 

Many  philosophers  have  puzzled  themselves  about  the  theory 
of  "innate  ideas"  And  the  belief  in  our  immortality  has  been 
classed  as  an  "innate  idea."  But  the  philosophers  may  learn  a 
lesson  from  clairvoyance.  It  is  no  "  innate  idea,"  but  only  the 
divine  voice  of  intuition,  which,  deep  within  each  man's  soul, 
proclaims  a  life  to  come. 

We  must  look  to  intuition  for  the  true  cause  of  that  faith  in  a 
future  beyond  the  grave,  which  has  prevailed  in  all  nations  and 
all  ages. 

Clairvoyance,  then,  in  demonstrating  the  truthfulness  of  in 
tuition,  has  also  demonstrated  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 


SCIENTIFIC    PROOF.  193 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  last  of  the  propositions  which  is 
to  be  considered  :  the  proof  which  clairvoyance  affords  of  the 
po-^ver  of  spirits  who  have  left  the  earth-form  to  communicate 
with  those  who  remain  behind. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  this  portion  of  the  argument,  as  well 
as  the  former,  is  addressed  only  to  such  as  believe  in  the  phe 
nomena  of  clairvoyance.  To  those  who  are  yet  so  far  behind  the 
great  age  in  which  they  live  as  to  doubt  or  sneer  at  magnetism 
and  psychological  science,  all  that  has  been  said  or  will  be  said 
by  the  writer  can  be  of  no  use.  Such  persons  have  yet  to  learn 
the  a  b  c  of  that  great  science  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  others, 
and  is  the  most  important  of  them  all. 

In  order  to  make  it  plain  that  clairvoyance  does  afford  scien 
tific  and  conclusive  proof  of  the  power  of  spirits  to  communicate 
with  us,  it  will  be  necessary  to  refer  to  some  of  the  familiar  and 
ordinary  phenomena  of  animal  magnetism-  Those  phenomena 
may  be  divided  into  three  classes  :  — 

i.  Profound  abstraction,  magnetic  sleep,  and  insensibility  to 
all  external  influences.  2.  Sympathetic  clairvoyance.  3.  Inde 
pendent  clairvoyance. 

Attention  is  more  particularly  requested  to  the  second  class ; 
namely,  sympathetic  clairvoyance.  The  subject,  while  in  this 
state,  is  almost  entirely  under  the  control  of  the  operator.  No 
vocalization  of  the  will  of  the  positive  operator  is  required  to 
induce  obedience  in  the  negative  subject.  The  simple  concen 
tration  of  the  unspoken  will  is  all  that  is  required  to  direct  and 
control  the  subject.  So  great  is  the  sympathy  induced  between 
the  two,  that  the  will  of  the  one  acts  freely  upon  the  muscular 
system  of  the  other,  and  compels  him  to  rise  up,  sit  down,  walk, 
stand,  or  talk,  according  to  the  volition  of  the  operator.  The 
nervous  systems  of  the  two  are  united  by  a  constant  interchange 
of  the  odic  fluids.  The  result  of  this  intimate  union  and  sympa 
thy  between  the  operator  and  the  subject  is,  that  the  thoughts 
of  the  one  are  known  to  the  other.  An  idea  evolved  in  the  mind 
of  the  operator,  thotigh  unspoken,  immediately  becomes  present 
in  the  mind  of  the  subject.  But  you  will  remember  that  the  will 

13 


194  PLANCHETTE. 

of  the  operator  also  has  control  of  the  muscular  system  of  the 
subject.  Hence,  no  sooner  is  the  idea  of  the  operator  present  in 
the  mind  of  the  subject,  should  the  operator  will  that  idea  to  be 
spoken  by  the  subject,  than  the  subject  is  compelled  to  speak  it. 
In  other  words,  the  operator,  for  the  expression  of  his  own  silent 
thoughts,  can  use  the  vocal  organs  of  the  subject. 

EXAMPLE. — A,  in  the  presence  of  C,  magnetizes  B,  and 
throws  him  into  the  sympathetic  clairvoyant  state.  This  being 
done,  A  silently  thinks  in  his  own  mind  these  words:  "Good- 
evening,  friend  C."  Now,  by  virtue  of  the  sympathy  established 
between  the  operator  A  and  the  subject  B,  those  words  are  im 
mediately  impressed  upon  the  mind  of  B,  and  become  present 
there.  A  now  silently  wills  B  to  speak  those  words,  which  B  is 
compelled  to  do ;  and  so  he  turns  to  C,  and  says,  "  Good-evening, 
friend  C."  Thus  you  perceive  A,  instead  of  using  his  own  organs 
of  speech,  has  employed  those  of  B.  In  other  words,  A  has  been 
speaking  to  C  through  a  medium.  This  is  an  experiment  which 
we  have  repeatedly  performed  with  success. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  body  or  physical  organism  of  the 
operator  ivas  not  employed  in  the  above  experiment.  The  operator 
used  two  things  only  :  first,  his  will ;  second,  an  odic  force,  which 
was  controlled  and  directed  by  his  will,  and  made  the  agent  for 
the  transmission  of  his  thoughts  and  commands  to  the  subject. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  though  the  operator  be  deprived 
of  his  body,  he  will  not  lose  the  power  to  control  and  speak 
through  B,  provided  he  yet  retain  the  power  of  volition  and  the 
command  of  the  odic  force. 

It  needs  no  argument  to  show  that  the  escape  of  the  soul  from 
the  body  will  not  deprive  the  soul  of  the  power  of  volition.  The 
will  is  an  essential  attribute  of  the  soul.  Without  volition,  a  soul 
would  not  be  a  soul ;  and  nothing  short  of  a  total  annihilation 
of  the  soul  can  destroy  its  volition.  The  whole  is  equal  to  the 
sum  of  its  parts.  If  the  whole  is  immortal,  all  the  parts  must 
be  immortal.  Hence,  we  see  that  the  immortality  of  the  will  is 
just  as  certain  as  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 

But  will  the  disembodied  volition  still  retain  command  of  the 


MATERIALISM    TESTED.  195 

odic  force?  There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual 
body.  This  spiritual  body  is  very  rare  and  refined  in  its  nature, 
but  is  yet  less  refined  than  the  soul  enshrined  within  it.  The 
soul,  therefore,  needs  some  agent  by  which  it  can  put  itself  in 
connection  with  that  spiritual  body.  The  soul  cannot  come  in 
direct  contact  with  that  body :  it  requires  an  agent  which  may 
transmit  its  commands  to  the  various  parts  and  members  of  the 
same. 

What  Nature  requires,  Nature  supplies ;  and  such  an  agent 
exists.  The  agent  which  serves  to  put  the  soul  in  connection 
with  its  new  spiritual  organization  is  an  etherealization  of  what 
we  term  the  odic  force  or  vital  fluid.  It  has  been  termed  spirit 
ual  magnetism,  in  contradistinction  to  animal  magnetism. 
Hence,  we  have  surviving  the  destruction  of  the  human  form  the 
only  two  conditions  needed  to  enable  A  to  control  and  speak 
through  B. 

This,  then,  is  the  true  philosophy  of  the  method  by  which 
spirits  speak  through  media.  It  is  sympathetic  clairvoyance  in 
both  cases.  In  the  one  case,  the  operator  is  a  spirit  in  the  form  ; 
in  the  other  case,  the  operator  is  a  spirit  outoi  the  form.  In  both 
cases  the  subject  is  the  same.  In  the  former  case,  the  spirit  in 
the  form  uses  his  will,  and  the  odic  force  evolved  from  his 
physical  organism.  In  the  latter  case,  the  spirit  out  of  the  form 
uses  his  will,  and  the  odic  force  flowing  from  his  spiritual 
organism.  The  analogy  between  the  two  is  perfect,  and  the 
means  used  are  the  same;  and  this  view  being  true,  it  antici 
pates  and  answers  all  the  objections  to  the  spiritual  hypothesis 
which  we  present  in  the  chapter  which  follows. 

We  have  offered  some  positive  physical  reasons  for  our  rejec 
tion  of  the  theories  of  the  physiological  materialists  of  our  day. 
Let  us  give  a  little  space  to  a  metaphysical  analysis  of  their 
arguments.  "  Moleschott,  Vogt,  Buchner,  Wiener,  and  others," 
says  Professor  Reubelt,  "maintain  the  following  propositions: 
It  is  not  the  mind  that  thinks  :  thoughts  are  the  secretions  of  the 
phosphoric  brain.  There  is  no  liberty  of  the  will,  but  a  man  is 
what  he  eats;  there  is  no  immortality,  but  a  resurrection,  of  the 


196  PLANCHETTE. 

body  when  it  is  used  for  the  manuring  of  the  fields ;  there  is  no 
personal  God,  who  would  be  as  much  as  a  gaseous,  vertebrated 
animal;  but  the  universal  law  of  causation  is  God.  There  is  no 
a  priori  knowledge.  There  is  no  knowledge  without  sensual  im 
pressions,  and  no  such  impressions  without  a  material  object. 
The  human  mind  is  no  spontaneous  and  productive,  but  only  a 
receptive  and  digestive,  organ." 

Of  this  coarse  materialism,  Professor  Gustave  Franck,  of  Vi 
enna,  lately  said,  in  his  inaugural  address,  "Scientific  criticism 
has  first  to  take  in  hand  the  principle  of  materialism  ;  and  that  is, 
all  is  matter,  or  there  is  nothing  but  matter.  But  this  leading 
idea  is  not  met  with  in  matter.  Materialism  is  thus  based  on  an 
immaterial  principle,  which  cannot  be  proved  from  matter,  and 
which  thus  contradicts  itself.  If  materialism  could  account  for 
every  thing  else  in  the  universe,  it  could  not  account  for  its  own 
first  principle,  and  thus  rests  on  the  belief  of  a  dogma  or  a  prej 
udice. 

"  If  all  is  matter,  thought  is  likewise  a  product  of  matter,  an 
accidental  conglomeration,  as  Vogt  says,  of  atoms  in  the  brain. 
Each  sphere  of  thought  is,  therefore,  an  accidental  phenomenon  ; 
each  lacks  the  character  of  logical  necessity.  If  two  men  think 
the  same  thoughts,  it  must  be  owing  to  the  accidental  sameness 
of  the  substance  of  their  brains.  Universal  and  necessary  truths, 
that  is,  truths  which  each  and  every  one  has,  by  necessity,  to 
recognize,  there  cannot  be. 

"  But  if  this  is  so,  what  right  has  the  materialist  to  proclaim 
his  idea  of  the  world  as  the  only  true  one,  and  what  interest 
prompts  him  to  attack  opposite  views?  If  he  is  consistent,  he 
cannot  do  any  thing  else  than  complain  bitterly  of  fate  or  acci 
dent,  by  which,  in  the  brains  of  others,  atoms  conglomerate  in  a 
manner  so  vastly  different  from  that  in  his  own. 

"Now  what  is  the  position  of  materialism  when  tested  by 
mathematics?  Are  its  propositions  and  axioms  universal  and 
necessarily  true,  or  are  they  accidental  ?  To  admit  the  first  part 
of  this  question  involves  a  denial  of  the  very  first  principle  of 
materialism  ;  and  to  assume  the  second  is  absurd. 


MATERIALISM    CONTRADICTS    ITSELF.  197 

"  Philosophically  neither  proved,  nor  capable  of  being  proved, 
and  perfectly  unable  to  account  for  the  most  common  pheno 
mena,  modern  materialism  has  sought  its  main  support  in 
natural  science.  The  materialist  reasons  thus  :  — 

"  'The  most  minute  and  thorough  examination  and  observa 
tion  of  nature  has  not  yet  been  able  to  discover  a  spirit,*  and 
there  is  consequently  no  spirit.' 

"But  with  the  same  right  a  man  may  say,  I  have  never  seen 
music  with  my  eyes ;  and  there  is,  therefore,  no  music.  All  that 
natural  science  can  do  is  to  confine  itself  to  a  relative  negation, 
and  to  say,  '  With  the  means  at  my  command,  I  cannot  discover  a 
spirit,''  As  soon  as  it  oversteps  this  limit,  and  makes  its  nega 
tion  absolute,  it  is  pretentious  :  it  has  left  its  own  legitimate 
sphere,  and  enters  another  of  which  it  knows  nothing,  and  of 
which  it  has,  therefore,  nothing  to  say. 

"Materialism  is  atomistic:  it  accounts  for  the  universe  and  all 
the  phenomena  taking  place  therein,  by  assuming  the  existence 
of  eternal  infinitesimal  bodies  that  are  endued  with  force.  But 
as  these  atoms  cannot  be  perceived  by  the  senses,  materialism, 
to  be  consistent,  has  nothing,  can  have  nothing,  to  do  with  them. 
Again  the  forces  of  cohesion  and  expansion,  supposed  to  inhere 
in  the  atoms,  cannot  possibly  produce  any  connection  conform 
able  to  design  ;  and  the  materialistic  philosopher  must,  therefore, 
deny  the  existence  of  any  thing  of  the  kind  in  organisms. 

"As  these  atoms  are  entirely  destitute  of  intelligence,  the  ori 
gin  of  a  self-conscious  intelligence  and  the  identity  of  this  self- 
consciousness  during  the  whole  life,  amid  the  constant  changes 
of  matter,  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  materialistic  principles ; 
and  the  materialist  has  to  doubt  his  own  self-consciousness  in 
order  to  be  consistent. 

"  But  as  thinking,  so  is  volition,  a  purely  physical  mechanism  ; 
and  there  is,  therefore,  no  freedom  of  will,  but  every  apparently 
free  act  is  the  necessary  result  of  a  chain  of  mechanically  act- 

*  As  far  as  the  faculties  of  man  are  capable  of  discovering  a  spirit,  by  sight,  touch, 
speech,  and  the  joint  efforts  of  the  reason  and  the  senses,  modern  Spiritualism  claims 
that  this  has  been  done,  although  no  chemical  test  may  yet  have  been  found. 


19^  PLANCHETTE. 

ing  causes  :  there  is  no  moral  self-determination.  Materialism 
has,  consequently,  no  morality;  but  leads  consistently  to  the 
doing  away  with  all  moral  and  human  order. 

"Where  there  is  no  room  for  morality,  there  is  of  course  none 
for  religion.  Thus  materialism  is  everywhere  a  sad  negation  of 
every  thing  ideal ;  yea,  a  mere  negation  itself,  a  heap  of  ruins." 

In  dismissing  the  materialism  of  Moleschott,  Buchner,  Mauds- 
ley,  and  the  rest,  we  are  happy  to  quote  Professor  Tyndall,  who, 
though  he  has  shown,  like  some  other  men  of  high  scientific  cul 
ture,  a  lack  of  courtesy,  if  not  of  courage,  in  dealing  with  the 
spiritual  phenomena,  discourses  well  in  regard  to  the  unphilo- 
sophical  attitude  of  the  German  Sadducees.  Speaking  of  the  con 
nection  between  physical  and  mental  processes,  he  says,  "  Were 
our  minds  and  senses  so  expanded,  strengthened,  and  illumi 
nated  as  to  enable  us  to  see  and  feel  the  very  molecules  of  the 
brain ;  were  we  capable  of  following  all  their  motions,  all  their 
groupings,  all  their  electric  discharges,  if  such  there  be ;  and 
were  we  intimately  acquainted  with  the  corresponding  states  of 
thought  and  feeling, —we  should  be  as  far  as  ever  from  the 
solution  of  the  problem,  '  How  are  these  physical  processes  con 
nected  with  the  facts  of  consciousness?'  The  chasm  between 
the  two  classes  of  phenomena  would  still  remain  intellectually 
impassable.  Let  the  consciousness  of  love,  for  example,  be 
associated  with  a  right-handed  spiral  motion  of  the  molecules  of 
the  brain ;  and  the  consciousness  of  hate  with  a  left-hand  spiral 
motion.  We  should  then  know  when  we  love  that  the  motion  is 
in  one  direction,  and  when  we  hate  that  the  motion  is  in  the 
other;  but  the  'why?'  would  still  remain  unanswered.  In 
affirming  that  the  growth  of  the  body  is  mechanical,  and  that 
thought,  as  exercised  by  us,  has  its  correlative  in  the  physics  of 
the  brain,  I  think  the  position  of  the  materialist  is  stated  as  far 
as  that  position  is  a  tenable  one.  I  think  the  materialist  will  be 
able  finally  to  maintain  this  position  against  all  attacks;  but  I 
do  not  think,  as  the  human  mind  is  at  present  constituted,  that 
he  can  pass  beyond  it.  ... 

"  The  problem  of  the  connection  of  body  and  soul  is  as  insol- 


THE    MISSING    LINK.  199 

uble  in  its  modern  form  as  it  was  in  the  pre-scientific  ages. 
Phosphorus  is  known  to  enter  into  the  composition  of  the  human 
brain ;  and  a  courageous  writer  has  exclaimed,  in  his  trenchant 
German,  '  Ohne  Phosphor  keine  Gedanke'  *  That  may  or  may 
not  be  the  case  ;  but  even  if  we  knew  it  to  be  the  case,  the  knowl 
edge  would  not  lighten  our  darkness.  On  both  sides  of  the  zone, 
here  assigned  to  the  materialist,  he  is  equally  helpless.  If  you 
ask  him  whence  is  this  'matter'  of  which  we  have  been  dis 
coursing,  who  or  what  divided  it  into  molecules,  who  or  what 
impressed  upon  them  this  necessity  of  running  into  organic 
forms,  he  has  no  answer.  .  .  .  Science,  also,  is  mute  in  reply  to 
these  questions." 

Long  before  these  remarks  were  made,  in  some  comments 
upon  the  physiological  writings  of  Mr.  Bain,  Mr.  James  Marti- 
neau  expressed  similar  ideas,  as  follows  :  "  If  modern  cerebral 
researches  were  ever  so  successful;  if  we  could  turn  the  exterior 
of  a  man's  body  into  a  transparent  case,  and  compel  powerful 
magnifiers  to  lay  bare  to  us  all  that  happens  in  his  nerves  and 
brain,. —  what  we  should  see  would  not  be  sensation,  thought, 
affection,  but  some  form  of  movement  or  other  visible  change, 
which  would  equally  show  itself  to  any  being  with  observing 
eyesight,  however  incapable  of  the  corresponding  inner  emotion. 
Facts  thus  legible  from  a  position  foreign  to  the  humao  con 
sciousness  are  not  mental  facts,  are  not  moral  facts,  and  have 
no  place  in  the  interior  of  a  science  which  professes  to  treat  of 
these,  and  reduce  them  to  their  laws." 

"Whatever  force,"  says  Mr.  Shorter,  "there  may  be  in  the 
argument  from  metaphysics  for  the  soul's  immortality  is  unaf 
fected  by  Spiritualism,  save  in  the  way  of  confirmation  to  its 
conclusion.  Spiritualism  converts  what  before  was  but  proba 
bility  into  certitude;  it  supplies  the  missing  link;  it  makes  good 
that  embarrassing  defect  in  the  evidence  which  has  perplexed  so 
many,  leading  them  to  question  or  reject  the  beiief  in  immortality 


*  No  thought  without    phosphorus ;    an  assertion  which  the  facts  of  somnambu 
lism  and  Spiritualism  would  seem  to  render  rather  questionable,  to  say  the  least. 


2OO  PLANCHETTE. 

as  not  adequately  sustained.  Let,  then,  the  metaphysician  mar 
shal  all  his  forces,  and  do  what  service  he  may  in  the  cause  of 
this  great  truth  :  I  would  only  say,  in  the  language  of  an  elder 
Spiritualist,  '  Yet  show  I  you  a  more  excellent  way.'  " 

To  many  minds,  familiar  with  the  facts  of  Spiritualism,  all  argu 
ments  in  proof  of  the  soul's  immortality  will  seem  as  superfluous 
as  it  would  be  to  argue  to  a  photographer  that  pictures  can  be 
made  by  the  aid  of  light.  To  them  the  question  is  no  longer  an 
open  one;  for  to  them  the  fact  of  spiritual  existence  has  been 
proved,  as  far  as  it  can  be  to  our  limited  human  faculties. 
Enough  has  been  given  to  satisfy  them  that  to  give  more  might 
be  to  cross  some  of  the  purposes  of  this  disciplinary  mundane 
existence.  And  so  they  wait  serenely  for  the  dawn  of  the  great 
morning. 

"  Soon  the  whole, 

Like  a  parched  scroll, 
Shall  before  our  amazed  sight  unroll ; 

And,  without  a  screen, 

At  one  burst  be  seen  „ 

The  presence  wherein  we  have  ever  been." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MISCELLANEOUS  PHENOMENA. 

"  Oh,  hearts  that  never  cease  to  yearn  ! 

Oh,  brimming  tears  that  ne'er  are  dried  ! 
The  dead,  though  they  depart,  return, 
As  if  they  had  not  died  ! 

The  living  are  the  only  dead  ; 

The  dead  live  —  never  more  to  die  ; 
And  often  when  we  mourn  them  fled, 

They  never  were  so  nigh  !  " 

WELL  authenticated  accounts  of  apparitions  of  the  departed 
may  be  found  in  Mr.  Owen's  "  Footfalls  on  the  Boundary 
of  Another  World,"  and  in  Mr.  Hewitt's  comprehensive  "  His 
tory  of  the  Supernatural." 

"The  department  of  apparitions  alone,"  says  Mr.  Howitt,  "  is 
a  most  voluminous  one,  and  that  on  evidence  that  has  resisted 
all  efforts  to  dislodge  it.  Amongst  those  of  recent  times  is  that 
which  warned  Lord  Lyttleton,  in  a  dream,  of  the  day  and  hour 
of  his  death;  the  truth  of  which  has  been  assailed  in  vain. 
Equally  well  attested  is  that  which  appeared  to  Dr.  Scott  in 
Broad  Street,  London,  and  sent  him  to  discover  the  title-deeds 
of  a  gentleman  in  Somersetshire,  who  would  otherwise  have 
lost  his  estate  in  a  lawsuit  with  two  cousins.  That  which  drove 
Lady  Penniman  and  her  family  out  of  a  house  in  Lisle  at  the 
commencement  of  the  French  Revolution,  is  well  known  and 
authenticated.  That  which  announced  to  Sir  Charles  Lee's 
daughter  at  Waltham  in  Essex,  three  miles  from  Chelmsford, 
her  death  that  day  at  twelve  o'clock,  and  which  took  place  then, 
is  related  by  a  bishop  of  Gloucester.  That  of  Dorothy  Dingle, 


2O2  PLANCHETTE. 

related  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ruddle,  a  clergyman  of  Launceston  in 
Cornwall,  occurring  in  1665,  is  well  known.  Still  more  cele 
brated  is  that  of  Lord  Tyrone  to  Lady  Beresford,  to  warn  her 
against  a  most  miserable  marriage,  and  to  predict  the  marriage 
of  his  (Lord  Tyrone's)  daughter  with  Lady  Beresford's  son,  and 
her  own  death  at  the  age  of  forty-seven.  In  proof  of  the  reality 
of  this  ghostly  visit,  the  spirit  took  hold  of  her  ladyship's  wrist, 
which  became  marked  indelibly,  so  that  she  always  wore  a  black 
ribbon  over  it.  The  apparition  to  Dr.  Donne  of  his  living  wife, 
when  he  was  in  Paris,  representing  the  death  of  his  child,  is 
related  by  Dr.  Donne  himself;  that  of  the  father  of  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  warning  his  son  of  his  approaching  fate,  is 
well  attested.  Baxter  relates  several  cases  as  communicated  to 
him  at  first  hand.  But  of  all  cases,  ancient  and  modern,  none 
are  better  authenticated  than  that  of  Captain  Wheatcroft,  who 
fell  at  the  storming  of  Lucknow  in  1857." 

In  this  last  case,  the  apparition  presented  itself  to  two  differ 
ent  ladies,  one  of  them  the  wife  of  Captain  Wheatcroft.  Nor 
could  it  be  said  that  the  recital  of  one  lady  caused  the  apparition 
of  the  same  figure  to  the  other.  Mrs.  Wheatcroft  was  at  the 

time  at  Cambridge,  and  Mrs.  N in  London;  and  it  was  not 

till  weeks  after  the  occurrence  that  either  knew  what  the  other 
had  seen.  Those  who  would  explain  the  whole  on  the  principle 
of  chance  coincidence,  have  a  treble  event  to  take  into  account: 

the  apparition  to  Mrs.  N ,  that  to  Mrs.  Wheatcroft,  and  the 

actual  time  of  Captain  Wheatcroft's  death,  each  tallying  exactly 
with  the  other. 

Examples  of  apparitions  at  the  moment  of  death  might  be 
multiplied  without  number.  In  the  case  of  the  Wynyard 
apparition,  which  took  place  Oct.  15,  1785,  at  Sydney,  in  the 
island  of  Cape  Breton,  off  Nova  Scotia,  Sir  John  Sherbrooke 
and  General  George  Wynyard,  then  young  men,  both  witnessed 
it  at  the  same  moment.  "I  have  heard,"  said  Sherbrooke,  "of 
a  man  being  pale  as  death ;  but  I  never  saw  a  living  face  as 
sume  the  appearance  of  a  corpse,  except  Wynyard's  at  that 
moment."  Both  remained  silently  gazing  on  the  figure  as  it 


APPARITIONS.  2O3 

passed  slowly  through  the  room,  and  entered  the  bed-chamber, 
casting  on  young  Wynyard  a  look  of  melancholy  affection. 
The  oppression  of  its  presence  was  no  sooner  removed,  than 
Wynyard,  grasping  his  friend's  arm,  exclaimed,  "Great  God! 
my  brother!  " 

They  instantly  proceeded  to  the  bedroom,  searched,  but  found 
it  untenanted.  The  case  was  made  known  to  their  brother- 
officers.  With  the  utmost  anxiety  they  waited  for  letters  from 
England.  At  length  came  a  letter  to  Sherbrooke,  begging  him 
to  break  to  Wynyard  the  news  of  the  death  of  his  favorite 
brother,  who  had  expired  on  the  i5th  of  October,  and  at  the 
same  hour  at  which  the  friends  saw  the  apparition. 

Recently,  while  in  England,  Mr.  Owen  took  pains  to  authen 
ticate  this  narrative.  "It  will  not,  I  think,  be  questioned,"  he 
writes,  "that  this  evidence  is  as  direct  and  satisfactory  as  can 
well  be,  short  of  a  record  left  in  writing  by  one  or  other  of  the 
seers, — which  it  does  not  appear  is  to  be  found.  A  brother- 
officer,  the  first  who  entered  the  room  after  the  apparition  had 
been  seen,  testifies  in  writing  to  the  main  facts.  Sir  John  Sher 
brooke  himself,  when  forty  years  had  passed  by,  repeats  to  a 
brother-officer  his  unaltered  conviction  that  it  ivas  the  spirit  of 
his  friend's  brother  that  appeared  to  them  in  the  barracks  at 
Sydney,  and  that  that  friend  was  as  fully  convinced  of  the  fact 
as  himself." 

Colonel  Swift,  late  keeper  of  the  crown  jewels  in  the  Tower, 
London,  communicates  to  "Notes  and  (Queries"  of  Sept.  8, 
1860,  an  account  of  a  singular  apparition  witnessed  by  himself 
and  family  in  October,  1817,  in  his  room  in  that  ancient  fortress, 
famous  for  so  many  royal  murders  and  executions ;  and  adds, 
that,  soon  afterwards,  a  sentinel  on  duty  before  the  door  of  the 
jewel-office  was  so  frightened  by  an  apparition,  that  he  died. 

The  Cambridge  Association  for  Spiritual  Inquiry,  familiarly 
called  the  Ghost  Club,  have  stated  that  their  carefully  conducted 
researches  on  the  subject  of  apparitions  have  led  them  to  re 
gard  such  appearances  as  a  settled  fact.  A  member  of  this 
association  informed  Mr.  Owen  that  he  had  collected  two  thou 
sand  cases  of  apparitions. 


204  PI.ANCHETTE. 

Dr.  Garth  Wilkinson,  in  his  "Life  of  Swedenborg,"  says 
truly,  "  The  lowest  experience  of  all  time  is  "rife  in  spiritual 
intercourse  already;  man  believes  it  in  his  fears  and  hopes, 
even  when  his  education  is.  against  it;  almost  every  family  has 
its  legends ;  and  nothing  but  the  wanting  courage  to  divulge 
them  keeps  back  this  supernaturalism  from  forming  a  library 
of  itself."  This  was  also  the  candid  confession  of  Kant. 

In  "Recollections,  Political,  &c.,  of  the  Last  Half  Century," 
by  the  Rev.  J.  Richardson  (London,  1856),  there  is  a  circum 
stantial  account  of  the  appearance  of  Mr.  John  Palmer  (an  actor, 
who  died  suddenly  on  the  stage  at  Liverpool  on  the  2d  of  August, 
1798),  on  the  night  of  his  death,  to  a  person  in  London,  named 
Tucker.  "The  fact  of  his  absence  from  London  was  known  to 
Tucker,  but  he  was  not  aware  aj)out  his  arrangement  for  his 
return.  On  the  night  just  mentioned,  Tucker  had  retired  at  an 
earlier  hour  than  usual ;  but  the  company  in  the  drawing-room 
was  numerous,  and  the  sound  of  their  merriment  pi-evented  him 
from  falling  asleep.  He  was  in  a  state  of  morbid  drowsiness 
produced  by  weariness,  but  continually  interrupted  by  noise. 
As  he  described  the  scene,  he  was  sitting  half  upright  in  his 
bed,  when  he  saw  the  figure  of  a  man  coming  from  the  passage 
which  led  from  the  door  of  the  house  to  the  hall.  The  figure 
paused  in  its  transit  for  a  moment  at  the  foot  of  the  couch,  and 
looked  him  full  in  the  face.  There  was  nothing  spectral,  or  like 
the  inhabitant  of  the  world  of  spirits,  in  the  countenance  or 
outline  of  the  figure,  which  passed  on.  and  apparently  went 
up  the  staircase.  Tucker  felt  no  alarm,  whatever :  he  recog 
nized  in  the  figure  the  features,  gait,  dress,  and  general  appear 
ance  of  John  Palmer,  who,  he  supposed,  had  returned  from 
Liverpool,  and,  having  the  entree  of  the  house,  had,  as  usual, 
availed  himself  of  his  latch-key.  .  .  .  Next  morning,  in  the 
course  of  some  casual  conversation,  he  informed  Mrs.  Vernon 
that  he  had  seen  Mr.  Palmer  pass  through  the  hall,  and  ex 
pressed  a  hope  that  his  trip  to  Liverpool  had  agreed  with  his 
health.  The  lady  stared  at  him  incredulously;  said  he  must 
have  been  dreaming  or  drinking  or  out  of  his  senses,  as  no  Mr. 


APPARITIONS    AND    HAUNTINGS.  2O5 

Palmer  had  joined  the  festivities  in  the  drawing-room.  His 
delusion,  if  delusion  it  were,  was  made  a  source  of  mirth  to 
the  people  who  called  in  the  course  of  the  day.  He,  however, 
persisted  in  his  assertion  of  having  seen  Mr.  Palmer;  and  on  the 
arrival  of  the  post  from  Liverpool  on  the  day  after  he  had  first 
made  it,  laughter  was  turned  into  mourning,  and  most  of  the 
guests  were  inclined  to  think  there  was  more  in  it  than  they 
were  willing  to  confess. 

"It  should  be  added,  that  this  'Tucker 'was  a  sort  of  hall- 
porter  in  Mrs.  Vernon's  house,  and  slept  on  a  couch  in  the  hall ; 
and  '  those  who  entered  the  house,  and  were  about  to  go  up 
stairs,  had  to  pass  by  the  aforesaid  couch.' 

"  It  is  very  curious,  also,  that  Palmer  dropped  down  dead  on  the 
stage,  while  performing  the  part  of  the  '  Stranger'  in  Kotzebue's 
well-known  play  of  that  name,  and  immediately  after  uttering 
these  memorable  words,  '  There  is  another  and  a  better  -world! ' 
A  benefit  was  got  up  in  Liverpool  for  his  children,  which  pro 
duced  £400." 

The  positive  statements  of  hauntings  are  so  numerous,  that, 
to  deny  them,  or  set  them  down  as  delusion,  requires  a  skep 
ticism  akin  to  credulity.  It  turns  out,  on  a  thorough  re- 
examination  by  Mr.  Shorter  of  the  celebrated  "  Cock-Lane 
ghost-story,"  for  his  belief  in  which  Dr.  Johnson  has  been  so 
repeatedly  ridiculed,  that  the  phenomena  of  that  case  were  in 
accordance  with  laws  now  familiar.  The  girl,  a  child  of  thir 
teen,  was  simply  a  medium.  To  learn  how  the  raps  were  made, 
she  was  tried  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  and  with  tied-up  hands  and 
feet,  from  the  supposition  that  she  made  the  noises  herself;  but 
in  vain.  The  noises  went  on,  and  that  in  different  rooms,  and 
even  different  houses.  Floors  and  wainscots  were  pulled  up ; 
but  no  trick  was  discovered,  though  the  search  was  made  under 
the  supervision  of  Dr.  Johnson,  Bishop  Douglas,  James  Penn, 
and  Stephen  Aldrich.  "That  such  a  deception,"  says  Howitt, 
"  should  be  carried  on  by  a  family  on  which  it  only  brought 
persecution,  the  pillory,  and  ruin,  was  too  absurd  for  the 
belief  of  any  except  the  so-called  incredulous." 


2O6  PLANCHETTE. 

Beaumont,  in  his  "Gleanings  of  Antiquities,"  published  in 
1724,  mentions  the  rapping  phenomena,  and  sajs,  '"There  is  a 
house  in  London,  in  which,  for  three  years  last  past,  have  been 
heard,  and  still  are  heard,  almost  continual  knockings  against 
the  wainscot  overhead,  and  sometimes  a  noise  like  telling 
money,  and  of  men  sawing,  to  the  great  disturbance  of  the 
inhabitants;  and  often  lights  have  been  seen,  like  flashes  of 
lightning;  and  the  person  who  rents  this  house  has  told  me 
that  when  she  has  removed  eighteen  miles  from  London, 
the  knockings  have  followed  her." 

Glanville  says  that  there  were  knockings,  and  that  a  hand 
was  seen  at  old  Gast's  House  in  Little  Burton  in  1677.  The 
knockings  were  on  a  bed's  head,  and  the  hand  was  seen  holding 
a  hammer,  which  made  the  strokes.  Our  times  do  not  have  the 
exclusive  experience  even  of  knockings.  Bishop  Heber  says 
that  the  evidences  of  such  things,  which  Glanville  gives,  are 
more  easily  ridiculed  than  disproved. 

The  cases  on  record  of  direct  spirit-writing,  when  no  medium 
was  near  enough  to  co-operate  in  any  known  way,  are  very 
numerous.*  A  work  by  Baron  L.  De  Guldenstubbe,  a  Swedish 
nobleman,  resident  in  Paris,  entitled  "La  Re'alite'  des  Esprits." 
and  published  a  few  years  since,  contains  numerous  fac-similes 
of  writings  made  on  paper  by  some  invisible  and  intelligent 
force.  The  names  of  ten  distinguished  persons  who  witnessed 
the  phenomenon  are  given.  The  Baron  is  a  gentleman  well 
known  to  personal  friends  of  our  own ;  and  his  character  gives 
all  possible  weight  to  his  testimony. 

"The  absurd  fear  of  demons,"  he  says,  "has  incapacitated 
our  orthodox  priests  and  theologians  from  combating  the  mate 
rialists  and  the  Sadducees  with  effectual  experimental  weapons. 
This  demonophobia  has  unfortunately  grown  to  be  a  veritable 
demonolatry.  The  priests  having  fear  of  demons,  and,  conse 
quently,  not  wishing  to  occupy  themselves  with  these  spiritual 

*  At  the  house  of  Mr.  Daniel  Farrar  in  Boston,  some  years  since,  we  were  present 
at  some  very  curious  experiments  of  this  sort.  The  late  Charles  Colchester  was  the 
medium. 


SURPRISING    OCCURRENCES.  2Oj 

phenomena,  have  unwittingly  formed  a  pact  with  the  devil,  by 
virtue  of  which  the  reign  of  incredulity  and  materialism,  that 
reign  of  the  demon  par  excellence,  continues  to  subsist  in  all  its 
eclat.  .  .  . 

"The  two  fundamental  ideas  of  Spiritualism  —  namely,  that  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  that  of  the  reality  of  the  invisi 
ble  world  which  reveals  and  manifests  itself  in  different  ways  in 
our  terrestrial  world — are  but  the  necessary  corollary  of  the 
idea  of  God  or  the  Absolute,  and  vice-versa.  We  may  even 
assume  that  the  idea  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  of  its 
relations  to  the  supernatural  world,  is  more  intimate  and  primi 
tive  than  that  of  God,  Creator  and  Supreme  Author  of  the 
universe.  .  .  . 

"The  Bible  does  not  formally  teach  the  idea  of  the  immor 
tality  of  the  soul,  graven  by  the  Eternal  himself  on  the  heart  of 
man,  but  it  supposes  it  everywhere.  (Job  xix.  26,  27;  Num. 
xxiii.  10;  Isa.  xxvi.  19.)  .  .  .  The  practice  of  necromancy, 
according  to  Samuel  (i  Sam.  xxviii.  3-25),  and  according  to 
Deuteronomy  (xiii.  and  xviii.),  necessarily  presupposes  the  doc 
trine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul ;  and  so  with  the  visions  and 
apparitions,  of  which  the  Bible  is  full." 

Dr.  Henry  More  gives  a  remarkable  story  touching  the  stirs 
made  by  a  demon  in  the  family  of  one  Gilbert  Campbel,  by 
profession  a  weaver,  in  the  old  parish  of  Glenluce  in  Galloway, 
Scotland,  in  November,  1654.  Among  other  phenomena  in  this 
case,  we  read  that  "presently  there  appeared  a  naked  hand  and 
arm  from  the  elbow  down,  beating  upon  the  floor  till  the  house 
did  shake  again." 

Certain  surprising  occurrences,  which  took  place  in  1806  at 
Slawensick  Castle,  Silesia,  are  thoroughly  well  authenticated. 
Councillor  Hahn,  in  the  service  of  Prince  Hohenlohe,  had  gone 
to  Slawensick,  and  with  an  old  friend,  a  military  officer  named 
Kern,  had  taken  up  his  abode  in  the  castle.  "  Hahn,  during  his 
collegiate  life,  had  been  much  given  to  philosophy;  had  listened 
to  Fichte,  and  earnestly  studied  the  writings  of  Kant.  The 
result  of  his  reflections,  at  this  time,  was  a  pure  materialism." 


2OS  PJLANCHETTE. 

He  had  been  reading  aloud  to  his  friends  the  works  of  Schiller, 
when  the  reading  was  interrupted  by  a  small  shower  of  lime 
which  fell  around  them  :  this  was  followed  by  larger  pieces ;  but 
they  searched  in  vain  to  discover  any  part  of  the  walls  or  ceiling 
from  which  it  could  have  fallen.  The  next  evening,  instead  of 
the  lime  falling,  as  before,  it  was  thrown,  and  several  pieces 
struck  Hahn ;  at  the  same  time  they  heard  many  blows,  some 
times  below  and  sometimes  over  their  heads,  like  the  sound  of 
distant  guns.  On  the  following  evening,  a  noise  was  added, 
which  resembled  the  faint  and  distant  beating  of  a  drum.  On 
going  to  bed,  with  a  light  burning,  they  heard  what  seemed  like 
a  person  walking  about  the  room  with  slippers  on,  and  a  stick, 
with  which  he  struck  the  floor  as  he  moved  step  by  step.  The 
friends  continued  to  laugh  and  jest  at  the  oddness  of  these 
circumstances,  till  they  fell  asleep ;  neither  being  in  the  least 
inclined  to  attribute  them  to  any  supernatural  cause.  "But,  on 
the  following  evening,  the  affair  became  more  inexplicable  : 
various  articles  in  the  room  were  thrown  about,  — knives,  forks, 
brushes,  caps,  slippers,  padlocks,  funnel,  snuffers,  soap,  —  every 
thing,  in  short,  that  was  movable ;  whilst  lights  darted  from 
corner  to  corner,  and  every  thing  was  in  confusion.  At  the  same 
time  the  lime  fell,  and  the  blows  continued.  Upon  this,  the  two 
friends  called  up  the  servant,  Knittel,  the  castle-watch,  and 
whoever  else  was  at  hand,  to  be  witnesses  of  these  mysterious 
operations.  Frequently,  before  their  eyes,  the  knives  and  snuf 
fers  rose  from  the  table  and  fell,  after  some  minutes,  to  the 
ground."  So  constant  and  varied  were  the  annoyances,  that 
they  resolved  on  removing  to  the  rooms  above.  But  this  did 
not  mend  the  matter:  "the  thumping  continued  as  before;  and 
not  only  so,  but  articles  flew  about  the  room  which  they  were 
quite  sure  they  had  left  below."  Kern  saw  a  figure  in  the  mirror 
interposing,  apparently,  between  the  glass  and  himself;  the  eyes 
of  the  figure  moving,  and  looking  into  his. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  recount  the  means  employed  to  trace  out 
these  mysteries.  Hahn  and  Kern,  assisted  by  two  Bavarian 
officers,  —  Captain  Cornet  and  Lieutenant  Magerle,  and  all  the 


STONE-THROWING    PHENOMENA.  209 

aid  they  could  assemble,  —  were  wholly  unsuccessful  in  obtain 
ing  the  slightest  clew.  And  Hahn,  from  whose  narrative  this 
account  is  taken,  declares,  "  I  have  described  these  events 
exactly  as  I  saw  them ;  from  beginning  to  end,  I  observed  them 
with  the  most  entire  self-possession.  I  had  no  fear,  nor  the 
Slightest  tendency  to  it;  yet  the  whole  thing  remains  to  me 
perfectly  inexplicable." 

Those  who  have  read  Mrs.  Poole's  "Englishwoman  in  Egypt," 
will  recollect  her  curious  account  of  the  hauntings  and  appari 
tions  in  the  house  of  her  brother,  Mr.  Lane,  at  Cairo.  The 
account  is  fully  confirmed  by  Mr.  Bayle  St.  John.  He  relates 
having  seen  a  ghostly  Sheik  enter  the  house  at  noon,  where  he 
himself  lived;  having  had  the  doors  immediately  closed,  and  the 
visitor  actively  hunted  up,  but  to  no  purpose.  He  relates  also, 
that,  in  Alexandria,  cases  of  throwing  of  stones  from  the  roofs 
are  of  no  unfrequent  occurrence,  where  no  one  can  discover  the 
perpetrators. 

M.  Joseph  Bizouard,  in  a  work  published  in  Paris,  under  the 
title  of  "Des  Rapports  de  1'  Homme  avec  le  Demon,"  relates 
some  details,  given  by  Gorres,  of  strange  events  at  Miinchshofe, 
situated  a  league  from  Voitsberg,  and  three  leagues  from  Gratz. 
They  occurred  in  the  house  of  a  Herr  Obergemeiner,  and  were 
observed  and  recorded  by  Dr.  J.  H.  Aschauer,  his  father-in-law, 
a  very  learned  physician  and  professor  of  mathematics  at  Gratz. 
They  commenced  in  October,  1818,  by  the  flinging  of  stones 
against  the  windows  on  the  ground-floor,  in  the  afternoon  and 
evening.  The  noise  generally  ceased  when  they  went  to  bed. 
As  nobody  could  discover  the  cause,  towards  the  end  of  the 
month,  Obergemeiner,  without  saying  any  thing  to  his  family, 
engaged  about  thirty-six  of  the  peasants  of  the  environs,  and 
placed  them  in  cordon  all  round  the  house  well  armed,  and  with 
orders  to  allow  no  one  to  go  in  or  out  of  the  house.  He  then 
took  into  the  house  with  him  Koppbauer  and  some  others, 
assembled  all  his  people  to  see  that  none  were  missing,  and 
thoroughly  examined  every  apartment,  from  the  attics  to  the 
cellar.  It  was  about  half-past  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

H 


2IO  PLANCHETTE. 

The  peasants  formed  their  circle,  and  saw  that  no  one  was 
concealed  within  it,  nor  was  able  to  pop  in  or  out;  notwithstand 
ing,  the  throwing  of  stones  comHSenced  against  the  windows  of 
the  kitchen.  Koppbauer,  placed  at  one  of  them,  endeavored  to 
ascertain  their  direction.  Whilst  Obergemeiner  was  in  the 
kitchen  with  the  others,  a  great  stone  was  launched  against  the, 
window  where  he  stood,  and  broke  many  of  the  panes.  It  was 
previously  thought  that  the  stones  were  thrown  from  the  interior; 
and  it  was  in  effect  from  that  direction  that  they  now  continued 
to  come  till  half-past  six  in  the  evening,  when  the  whole  ceased. 
Every  place  in  the  house  where  a  man  could  possibly  conceal 
himself  was  visited;  and  the  guard  without  continued  its  posi 
tion. 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  stone-throwing  re-com 
menced  before  more  than  sixty  persons  ;  and  they  were  convinced 
that,  issuing  from  beneath  the  benches  of  the  kitchen,  they 
struck  the  windows  in  a  manner  inexplicable.  Pieces  of  lime 
stone,  weighing  from  a  quarter  of  a  pound  to  five  pounds,  were 
seen  flying  in  all  directions  against  the  windows;  and  imme 
diately  afterwards  all  the  utensils,  spoons,  pots,  plates,  full  and 
empty,  were  launched  from  the  midst  of  the  spectators  against 
the  windows  and  the  doors  with  a  velocity  inconceivable.  Some 
broke  the  glass,  some  remained  sticking  in  the  broken  panes ; 
and  others,  only  appearing  to  touch  the  glass,  fell  into  the  inte 
rior.  The  spectators,  when  struck  by  the  stones,  felt  only  a  slight 
blow.  Whilst  utensils  were  being  carried  from  the  kitchen,  they 
were  forced  from  the  hands  of  those  who  bore  them,  or  they 
were  knocked  over  on  the  table  on  which  they  were  placed. 
The  crucifix  alone  was  respected :  the  lights  burning  before  it 
were  forcibly  flung  down.  At  the  end  of  two  hours,  all  the  glass 
in  the  kitchen  and  all  the  fragile  objects  were  broken,  even 
those  which  they  had  carried  away.  A  plate  full  of  salad  carried 
up  to  the  first  floor,  in  the  act  of  being  carried  down  again,  by 
a  servant,  was  snatched  from  her  hands  and  flung  into  the  ves 
tibule.  The  disorder  ceased  at  eleven  o'clock.  We  omit  many 
particulars  which  took  place  at  this  time. 


STRANGE    DOINGS.  211 

M.  Aschauer,  having  heard  this  strange  news  from  his  son-in- 
law,  desired  to  know  when  any  thing  further  took  place ;  and, 
being  sent  for,  as  he  entered  he  saw  his  daughter,  with  the  man 
named  Koppbauer,  picking  up  the  fragments  of  a  pot,  which  had 
been  thrown  on  the  floor  just  as  he  entered.  Then,  all  at  once, 
a  great  ladle  was  launched  from  the  shelf  on  which  it  lay,  and, 
with  incredible  velocity,  against  the  head  of  Koppbauer,  who, 
instead  of  a  severe  contusion,  only  perceived  a  very  light  touch. 
M.  Aschauer  saw  nothing  further  till  the  next  day;  when,  issu 
ing  from  the  kitchen  on  account  of  the  smoke,  some  stones  were 
thrown  against  the  windows.  This  physician  examined  the 
lightning-conductor,  and  every  thing  else,  with  an  electrometer; 
but  neither  he  nor  Obergemeiner,  who  had  offered  a  reward  of  a 
thousand  francs  to  any  one  who  could  discover  the  cause,  could 
detect  any  thing.  On  the  second  day,  about  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  Aschauer,  troubled  at  these  strange  occurrences,  was 
standing  at  the  end  of  the  kitchen,  having  opposite  to  him  a 
shelf  on  which  stood  a  large  metal  soup-tureen,  when  he  saw  the 
tureen  suddenly  dart  towards  him  in  a  nearly  horizontal  position, 
and  with  surprising  velocity,  and  pass  so  near  his  head  that  the 
wind  of  it  raised  his  hair;  and  the  tureen  then  fell  to  the  earth 
with  a  great  noise. 

Curiosity  caused  people  to  hasten  from  all  parts,  who  were 
struck  dumb  with  astonishment  at  these  phenomena,  and  others 
of  a  similar  nature.  Towards  five  o'clock  came  a  stranger,  who 
pretended  that  a  man  must  be  concealed  in  the  chimney.  This 
ridiculous  explanation  excited  the  anger  of  M.  Aschauer;  and  he 
led  him  towards  the  door,  whence  nothing  could  be  seen  from 
the  chimney,  and,  pointing  to  a  copper  dish  upon  a  shelf,  he 
said,  "What  would  you  say,  monsieur,  if  that  dish  should, 
without  any  one  touching  it,  be  thrown  to  the  other  side  of  the 
kitchen?"  Scarcely  were  the  words  uttered,  when  the  dish,  as 
if  it  had  heard  them,  flew  across.  The  stranger  stood  con 
founded. 

We  omit  many  particulars,  because  they  are  of  the  same  kind. 
A  pail  of  water,  weighing  fifteen  pounds,  which  had  been  set  on 


212  PLANCHETTE. 

the  floor,  fell  from  the  ceiling  without  any  one  being  able  to 
conceive  how  it  got  there  ;  for  there  was  nothing  to  hang  it  upon. 
As  they  were  seated  round  the  fire,  a  pot,  which  none  of  them 
could  touch,  was  suddenly  turned  over,  and  emptied  itself  little 
by  little,  contrary  to  the  law  of  such  a  fall.  Then  came  egg 
shells  flying  from  every  corner,  nobody  being  there  to  throw 
them,  and  no  one  being  able  to  imagine  whence  they  came. 
After  the  departure  of  M.  Aschauer,  the  wheels  of  a  mill,  about 
six  minutes'  walk  from  the  house,  stood  still  from  time  to  time ; 
the  miller  was  thrown  out  of  his  bed,  the  bed  turned  over,  the 
lights  were  extinguished,  and  various  objects  were  thrown  to 
the  ground. 

After  this,  nothing  more  is  said  to  have  happened ;  at  all 
events,  M.  Obergemeiner,  who  did  not  love  to  speak  of  these 
things,  made  no  report  of  any.  They  made  a  great  sensation, 
however,  amongst  the  government  officials ;  and  the  district  of 
Ober-Greiffenneck  sent  its  report  to  the  circle  of  Gratz.  "  Al 
though  it  is  said  that  we  exist  no  longer  in  the  times  of 
ignorance,  when  phenomena  which  could  not  be  comprehended 
were  attributed  to  demons,  &c.,  it  is  remarkable  that,  at  an 
epoch  in  which  civilization  and  the  progress  of  the  natural 
sciences  have  put  them  to  flight,  we  yet  see  extraordinary  things 
which  the  savans  cannot  explain."  The  report  accords  with  the 
recital  of  M.  Aschauer,  and  a  mention  is  made  in  it  of  an  inquiry 
by  order  of  the  magistrates,  conducted  by  M.  Gaver,  with  his 
electric  apparatus ;  and  the  report  concludes  by  recommending 
a  further  inquiry,  "  as  a  natural  solution  can  alone  combat  the 
hypocrisy  of  some  and  the  superstition  of  others." 

We  do  not  ask  the  reader  to  imagine  the  conclusion  to  which 
the  government  came  on  this  matter,  for  he  never  could  divine 
it.  It  was  "  that  a  man  concealed  in  the  tunnel  of  the  chimney 
was  probably  the  cause"!  These  professors  of  natural  science 
were,  however,  charged  to  proceed  to  a  further  inquiry;  but  they 
considered  it  beneath  their  dignity,  and  refused.  Afterwards  an 
agent  of  the  police  visited  the  house ;  and  Gorres  says,  that, 
amongst  the  various  causes  that  he  imagined,  the  most  amusing 


BROWNSON  S    REPLY    TO    BABINET.  213 

was  that  M.  Aschauer  had  only  astonished  the  people  by  a  series 
of  scientific  tricks.  Gorres,  however,  stating  that  his  account  is 
literally  found  in  a  letter  of  M.  Aschauer  to  a  friend,  dated  Jan. 
21,  1821,  and  in  details  communicated  to  himself,  at  a  later 
period,  assures  us  that  M.  Aschauer  was  not  only  a  man  of  the 
profoundest  science,  but  of  the  profoundest  regard  to  truth,  and 
one  who  feared  no  ridicule  in  stating  it,  however  strange  it 
might  be.  On  this  occasion,  he  asserted  that  no  master  of 
legerdemain  was  capable  of  producing  the  things  which  he  saw. 
Neither  was  the  force  employed  a  mere  scientific  or  physical 
force :  it  was  a  force  free  and  reasoning ;  and  these  effects  were 
the  sport  of  a  spirit  or  spirits,  immaterial  or  invisible. 

M.  Babinet,  in  an  essay  in  the  "Revue  des  Deux  Mondes," 
reasons,  like  Faraday,  that  these,  and  similar  phenomena  at 
tested  by  Spiritualists,  are  impossible,  because  they  contradict 
the  law  of  gravitation.  Dr.  Brownson  urges  in  reply,  that  when 
he  sees  a  fact  of  this  kind,  he  does  not  pretend  that  it  is  in 
accordance  with  the  law  of  gravitation,  but  the  essence  of  the 
fact — that  which  constitutes  its  marvellousness  —  is  precisely 
that  it  is  not.  "  Now,  to  deny  the  fact  for  that  reason,"  he  says, 
"  is  to  say  that  the  law  of  gravitation  cannot  be  overcome  or 
suspended,  and  precisely  to  beg  the  question.  How,"  he  asks, 
"  does  M.  Babinet  know  that  there  are  not  invisible  powers  who 
can  overcome  this  force  as  easily  as  we  ourselves  can  do  ?  The 
fact  of  the  rising  of  a  table,  or  a  man  to  the  ceiling,  is  one  that 
is  easily  verified  by  the  senses ;  and,  if  attested  by  witnesses  of 
ordinary  capacity  and  credibility,  must  be  admitted.  That  it  is 
contrary  to  the  law  of  gravitation,  proves  not  that  it  is  impossi 
ble,  but  that  it  is  possible  only  preternaturally."  In  the  words 
of  Mr.  Mill,  there  must  be  an  "  adequate  counteracting  cause." 

"Scientific  men,"  says  Mr.  Shorter,  "  should  learn  from  expe 
rience  to  be  cautious  in  affirming  the  limit  of  the  possible.  The 
more  completely  they  prove  that  the  phenomena  in  question  are 
not  due  to,  and  are  impossible  by,  any  physical  agency,  the 
more  completely  do  they  establish  the  necessary  spiritual  causa 
tion  of  such  phenomena.  Those  men  of  science  who  have 


214  PLANCH ETTE. 

erected  theories  about  the  impossible,  have  not  unfrequently 
built  a  monument  to  their  own  folly  and  shame.  The  circula 
tion  of  the  blood,  the  prevention  of  small-pox  by  vaccination, 
the  fall  of  meteorolites,  the  lighting  of  towns  by  gas,  convey 
ance  by  steam,  painless  surgery,  clairvoyance,  —  these,  and 
many  other  things  now  familiar  to  us,  have,  each  in  its  turn, 
been  pronounced  impossible  by  high  authorities.  One  age 
laughs  at  an  idea;  the  next  adopts  it.  The  impossible  of  yester 
day  is  the  familiar  fact  of  to-day.  In  an  age  when  steam  is  our 
conductor,  and  electricity  our  messenger,  and  the  sun  our  por 
trait-painter;  when  the  every-day  facts  of  life  would  have  been 
a  fairy  tale  a  hundred  years  ago ;  who,  especially  with  the 
knowledge  that  spiritual  forces  are  working  around  and  within 
us,  will  have  the  presumption  to  affirm  that  it  is  impossible  for 
spiritual  beings  so  to  operate  upon  ourselves  and  surrounding 
objects  as  to  make  their  presence  evident  even  to  our  senses? 
Lord  Bacon  says,  '  We  have  set  it  down  as  a  law  to  ourselves  to 
examine  things  to  the  bottom,  and  not  to  receive  upon  credit,  or 
reject  upon  improbabilities,  until  there  hath  passed  a  due  exam 
ination.'" 

The  late  Thomas  Starr  King  was  intuitively  a  Spiritualist. 
"What  more  arrogant  and  presumptuous  folly  can  there  be,"  he 
says,  "than  that  which  a  person  exhibits,  who  makes  his  expe 
rience  of  nature  the  measure  of  the  possibilities  of  nature?  Yet 
this  is  what  all  of  us  do  who  object  to  the  doctrine  of  the  soul's 
immortality,  that  we  cannot  conceive  hotv  it  is  released  from  its 
fleshy  bondage,  nor  what  are  the  methods  of  its  disembodied 
life.  If  we  should  hear  any  man  soberly  affirm  that  he  did  not 
believe  that  any  process  could  go  on  in  this  universe,  or  any 
thing  be  true,  which  baffled  his  powers  of  comprehension,  we 
should  probably  think  that  the  application  to  him  of  Paul's 
apostrophe  to  the  Corinthian  doubter  involved  no  dangerous  lack 
of  charity.  It  has  pleased  God  to  endow  us  with  five  senses, 
through  which  we  hold  conversation  with  the  created  realm. 
We  do  not  know  that  five  other  media  of  communication  might 
not  be  opened  that  would  make  the  physical  universe  seem  as 


THOMAS    STARR    KING'S    REMARKS.  215 

different  and  as  much  higher  than  it  now  does,  as  if  we  were 
transported  into  another  sphere.  Who  has  told  us  that  there 
cannot  be  any  other  avenues  between  the  soul  and  matter  than 
the  touch,  the  taste,  the  ear,  and  the  eye?  Who  has  told  us  that 
all  which  exists  right  about  us  is  reported  by  the  limited  appara 
tus  furnished  to  our  nerves  ?  .  .  . 

"  It  has  been  truly  said  by  another,  that  we  should  '  easily 
believe  in  a  life  to  come,  if  this  present  life  were  the  wonderful 
thing  to  us  which  it  ought  to  be.'  Here  is  the  point.  Not  that 
there  are  startling  difficulties  in  the  way  of  conceiving  a  future 
existence,  but  that  we  lose  the  fine  sense  and  the  nice  relish  of 
the  mystery  and  miracle  that  invest  us  here.  There  are  a  thou 
sand  scientific  facts  that  would  seem  as  marvellous  to  a  culti 
vated  mind,  if  they  had  not  been  demonstrated  and  published 
in  veracious  treatises,  as  the  continued  existence  of  the  body. 
What  would  Plato  have  said,  could  he  have  seen  a  man,  without 
using  any  flame  in  the  experiment,  cause  fire  to  burst  out  of  a 
lump  of  ice?  Suppose  that  Newton  had  never  heard  of  a  load 
stone,  what  would  he  have  thought,  could  he  have  seen  an  iron 
weight,  in  defiance  of  the  law  of  gravitation  which  he  had  just 
demonstrated,  spring  from  the  floor  to  the  wall?  Before  seeing 
the  fact  for  the  first  time,  would  not  the  proposition  have 
seemed  as  surprising  to  him,  and  as  difficult  to  be  believed,  as 
the  return  of  a  dead  man  to  life  before  his  eyes,  or  the  appear 
ance  of  a  spirit?  And  after  he  had  seen  it,  how  could  he  explain 
it?  How  can  any  man  explain  the  phenomenon  now? 

"Is  the  statement  that  there  is  an  enduring  spirit  within  us, 
entirely  distinct  from  the  corporeal  organization,  and  which  the 
cessation  of  the  heart  liberates  to  a  higher  mode  of  existence, 
any  more  startling  than  the  statement  that  a  drop  of  water, 
which  may  tremble  and  glisten  on  the  tip  of  the  finger,  seem 
ingly  the  most  feeble  thing  in  nature,  from  which  the  tiniest 
flower  gently  nurses  its  strength  while  it  hangs  upon  its  leaf, 
which  a  sunbeam  may  dissipate,  contains  within  its  tiny  globe 
electric  energy  enough  to  charge  eight  hundred  thousand  Ley- 
den  jars,  energy  enough  to  split  a  cathedral  as  though  it  were  a 


2l6  PLANCHETTE. 

toy?  And  so  that,  of  every  cup  of  water  we  drink,  each  atom  is 
a  thunder  storm  ? 

"  Is  the  idea  of  spiritual  communication  and  intercourse,  by 
methods  far  transcending  our  present  powers  of  sight,  speech, 
and  hearing,  beset  with  more  intrinsic  difficulties  than  the  idea 
of  conversing  by  a  wire  with  a  man  in  St.  Louis,  as  quickly  as 
with  a  man  by  your  side,  or  of  making  a  thought  girdle  the 
globe  in  a  twinkling?  And  when  we  say  that  the  spiritual  world 
may  be  all  around  us,  though  our  senses  take  no  impression  of 
it,  what  is  there  to  embarrass  the  intellect  in  accepting  it,  when 
we  know  that,  within  the  vesture  of  the  air  which  we  cannot 
grasp,  there  is  the  realm  of  light,  the  immense  ocean  of  elec 
tricity,  and  the  constant  currents  of  magnetism,  all  of  them 
playing  the  most  wonderful  parts  in  the  economy  of  the  world, 
each  of  them  far  more  powerful  than  the  ocean,  the  earth,  and 
the  rocks,  —  neither  of  them  at  all  comprehensible  by  our  minds, 
while  the  existence  of  two  of  them  is  not  apprehensible  by  any 
sense." 

"  Sweep  away  the  illusion  of  Time,"  says  Carlyle,  "  compress 
the  threescore  years  into  three  minutes,"  and  what  are  we  our 
selves  but  ghosts?  "  Are  we  not  spirits,  that  are  shaped  into  a 
body,  into  an  appearance?  This  is  no  metaphor:  it  is  a  simple 
scientific  fact.  We  start  out  of  Nothingness,  take  figure,  and 
are  Apparitions  :  round  us,  as  round  the  veriest  spectre,  is  Eter 
nity;  and  to  Eternity  minutes  are  as  years  and  aeons.  .  .  . 

"  O  Heaven !  it  is  mysterious,  it  is  awful  to  consider  that  we 
not  only  carry,  each  a  future  Ghost  within  him,  but  are,  in  very 
deed,  Ghosts  !  These  Limbs,  whence  had  we  them ;  this  stormy 
Force;  this  life-blood  with  its  burning  Passion?  They  are 
dust  and  shadow;  a  Shadow-system  gathered  round  our  ME; 
wherein,  through  some  moments  or  years,  the  Divine  Essence 
is  to  be  revealed  in  the  Flesh.  That  warrior  on  his  strong  war- 
horse,  fire  flashes  through  his  eyes;  force  dwells  in  his  arm 
and  heart :  but  warrior  and  war-horse  are  a  vision ;  a  revealed 
Force,  nothing  more.  Stately  they  tread  the  earth,  as  if  it  were 
a  firm  substance:  fool!  the  Earth  is  but  a  film;  it  cracks  in 


CARLYLE    ON    SPIRITS.  21 7 

twain,  and  warrior  and  war-horse  sink  beyond  plummet's  sound 
ing.  Plummet's?  Fantasy  herself  will  not  follow  them.  A 
little  while  ago  they  were  not;  a  little  while  and  they  are  not, 
their  very  ashes  are  not. 

"  So  it  has  been  from  the  beginning;  so  will  it  be  to  the  end. 
Generation  after  generation  takes  to  itself  the  Form  of  a  Body ; 
and  forth  issuing  from  Cimmerian  Night,  on  Heaven's  mission 
APPEARS.  What  Force  and  Fire  is  in  each  he  expends :  one 
grinding  in  the  mill  of  Industry;  one,  hunter-like,  climbing  the 
giddy  Alpine  heights  of  Science ;  one  madly  dashed  in  pieces 
on  the  rocks  of  Strife,  in  war  with  his  fellow :  and  then  the 
Heaven-sent  is  recalled ;  his  earthly  Vesture  falls  away,  and 
soon,  even  to  Sense,  becomes  a  vanished  Shadow.  Thus,  like 
wild-flaming,  wild-thundering  train  of  Heaven's  Artillery,  does 
this  mysterious  MANKIND  thunder  and  flame,  in  long-drawn, 
quick-succeeding  grandeur,  through  the  unknown  Deep.  .  .  . 
Earth's  mountains  are  levelled,  and  her  seas  filled  up,  in  our 
passage  :  can  the  Earth,  which  is  but  dead  and  a  vision,  resist 
Spirits  which  have  reality  and  are  alive?  On  the  hardest  ada 
mant  some  foot-print  of  us  is  stamped  in ;  the  last  Rear  of  the 
host  will  read  traces  of  the  earliest  Van.  But  whence? — O 
Heaven,  whither?  Sense  knows  not;  Faith  knows  not;  only 
that  it  is  through  Mystery  to  Mystery,  from  God  and  to  God." 

Carlyle  reveals  to  us  the  spiritual  side  of  man  whilst  in  this 
world  and  fettered  to  his  clog  of  flesh.  The  great  facts  of 
Spiritualism  reveal  man  to  us  as  he  is  when  he  emerges  into  "  a 
purer  ether,  a  diviner  air,"  with  his  individualism  unimpaired, 
and  all  that  he  has  gained  of  good,  through  his  affections  and 
his  understanding  in  this  life,  left  whole  as  the  vantage-ground 
of  future  progress. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THEORIES  IN  REGARD  TO  THE  PHENOMENA. 

"  It  is  only  since  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  Spiritualism  began  to  cease 
to  be  the  prevalent  faith  of  Christendom  ;  and  parallel  with  this  decline  has  been  the 
denial  of  all  revelation  and  the  spread  of  atheistical  philosophy.  God,  however,  has  not 
left  himself  without  a  witness;  and  in  our  day,  when  Sadduceeism  jnost  abounds,  evi 
dences  of  a  spiritual  world  have  been  multitudinous."  —  Thomas  Shorter. 

WE  have  seen  what  the  first  theories  were  in  explanation  of 
the  phenomena  of  1848.  It  was  soon  found  that  these 
theories  were  insufficient.  Like  Faraday's  notion  of  an  uncon 
scious  exercise  of  muscular  force,  they  did  not  cover  the  new 
facts  as  they  came  up  and  multiplied. 

So  long  as  the  manifestations  were  confined  to  raps  and  table- 
tippings,  it  was  surmised  that  they  might  proceed  in  some 
mysterious  way  from  animal  electricity,  put  in  operation  by  the 
unconscious  will  of  the  medium  or  of  other  persons  present. 

The  late  Dr.  E.  C.  Rogers,  a  gentleman  personally  well  known 
to  us  at  the  time  the  Rochester  phenomena  began  to  excite  pub 
lic  attention,  was  the  author  of  a  work  bearing  the  following 
title:  "Philosophy  of  Mysterious  Agents,  Human  and  Mundane, 
or  the  Dynamic  Laws  and  Relations  of  Man."  His  theory  is 
that  the  whole  body  of  phenomena,  physical  and  mental,  are 
referable  to  cerebral  or  mental  action,  through  the  medium  of 
"a  physical  force  associated  with  the  human  organism;  and, 
under  peculiar  conditions,  this  physical  force  is  made  to  emanate 
from  that  organism  with  a  most  terrible  energy,  and  without 
any  necessary  conjunction  with  either  spiritual  or  psychological 
agency."  This  agent  may  be  the  od,  or  odic  force,  of  Reichen- 
bach.  It  is  not  under  the  general  control  of  the  will,  but  is  the 


DR.    ROGERS'S    THEORY.  219 

mere  agent  of  the  unconscious  organs,  playing  its  part  automat 
ically,  as  the  brain  is  affected. 

The  material  agent  is  thus  put  in  operation  by  the  peculiar 
changes  that  take  place  in  the  cerebral  organs.  That  every 
thought,  emotion,  or  passion  is  accompanied  with  a  change  of 
the  motion  of  the  brain,  is  assumed  as  one  of  the  undisputed 
facts  in  physiology.  It  is  the  prerogative  of  every  man's  mind 
or  spirit  to  control  the  motions,  and,  consequently,  the  changes 
of  his  brain,  within  prescribed  limits.  But,  in  certain  condi 
tions  of  the  latter,  such  as  mesmeric  trance,  catalepsy,  sleep,  cere 
bral  inflammation,  passiveness  of  mind  and  will,  and  many 
others,  the  man's  own  personality  is  suspended  in  its  prerogative 
action.  The  predominant  influence  upon  it,  then,  becomes 
material  or  sensuous;  and  here,  according  to  Dr.  Rogers,  the 
reflex  action  of  another's  brain  wibl^readily  take  effect.  Anoth 
er's  wish  or  request  will  act  like  a  law;  and  a  fictitious  person 
ality  may  be  induced  in  the  brain,  #^d  represented  independently 
of  the  conscious  personality,  reason,  and  will  of  the  individual. 
It  therefore  follows  that  the  specific  action  of  one  person's 
brain  may  be  unconsciously  propagated  to  another's  brain,  and 
there  be  exactly  represented  in  a  second  cerebral  action.  This 
may  propagate  itself  to  the  automatic  centres  in  the  spinal 
axis,  and  thus  the  involuntary  play  of  the  muscles  may  pro 
duce  the  rappings,  movements  of  furniture,  and  the  other  phe 
nomena. 

In  view  of  the  many  evidences  of  unconscious  cerebral  ac 
tion,  Dr.  Rogers  regards  it  as  precipitate  to  attribute  to  the 
influence  of  disembodied  spirits  that  which  may  lie  within  the 
sphere  of  the  human  organization  and  of  mundane  agencies. 
He  then  proceeds  to  show  how  the  human  organism  may  be 
influenced  by  drugs,  so  as  to  alter  its  conditions;  and  argues 
that,  inasmuch  as  the  agent,  the  substance  on  which  it  acts,  and 
the  new  condition,  are  purely  physical,  the  results  must  be 
physical  also.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  visions,  somnambulism, 
ecstasy,  which  are  pathematically  produced,  and  also  produced 
by  the  influence  of  drugs  upon  the  organism,  are  the  results  of 


22O  PI.ANCHETTE. 

the  material  conditions  of  that  organism,  and  do  not  require  the 
spiritual  hypothesis  for  their  explanation. 

Dr.  Rogers's  conclusion  is,  that  the  whole  body  of  phenomena 
of  Spiritualism,  including  the  past  and  the  present,  "  offer  to 
the  philosopher  a  new  view  of  man  and  his  relations  to  the 
sphere  in  which  he  lives,  by  neglecting  which  the  deepest  mys 
teries  of  the  human  being  are  left  unsolved." 

This  ingenious  writer  died  before  the  more  advanced  phenom 
ena  recorded  in  this  volume  were  made  known  to  the  world. 
Had  he  lived  to  become  acquainted  with  them,  he  might  have 
found  that,  whatever  there  may  be  of  truth  in  his  theory,  is  not 
inconsistent  with  the  fact  of  the  agency  and  appearance  of  dis 
embodied  spirits. 

Professor  A.  Mahan,  Mr.  Charles  Bray,  Dr.  Samson,  of  Co 
lumbia  College,  and  others ^ho  have  adopted  the  apneumatic  or 
no-spirit  view  in  regard  to  the  phenomena,  have  done  little  more 
than  either  to  put  in  new  ajid  expanded  form  the  arguments  of 
Dr.  Rogers,  or  to  substitute  for  his  notion  of  an  odic  force  the 
simple  hypothesis  of  nervous  action.  None  of  these  opponents 
of  the  spiritual  theory  deny  the  facts.  Professor  Mahan  says, 
"  We  shall  admit  the  facts  claimed  by  Spiritualists.  We  admit  the 
facts  for  the  all-adequate  reason  that,  after  careful  inquiry,  we 
have  been  led  to  conclude  that  they  are  real.  We  think  that  no 
candid  inquirer  -who  carefully  investigates  can  come  to  any  other 
conclusion" 

The  facts  being  admitted,  Professor  Mahan  finds  in  Reichen- 
bach's  odic  force  the  mysterious  agent  by  which  they  are  mani 
fested.  But  it  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  Reichenbach  himself, 
the  original  hypothetist  of  this  odic  force,  modestly  disclaims  for 
it  all  such  power  as  these  writers  attribute  to  it.  He  avowedly 
regards  it  merely  as  the  means  by  which  spiritual  intelligence 
manifests  itself;  as  the  channel  through  which  it  sends  its 
forces.  That  it  is  in  itself  an  intelligent,  personal  principle, 
able  to  take  the  shape  of  the  human  body,  and  to  conduct  itself 
like  an  individual  in  the  flesh,  makes  no  part  of  his  hypothesis  ; 
and  this  notion  certainly  demands  as  great  an  effort  of  credulity 
as  any  theory  of  direct  spiritual  action. 


ARAGO    ON    THE    PHENOMENA.  221 

President  Samson  is  of  opinion  that  all  the  manifestations, 
supposed  to  be  spiritual,  are  really  natural,  the  working  of  an 
agent  intermediate  between  mind  and  matter,  for  which  agent 
he  can  give  no  better  name  than  the  nervous  fluid. 

He  tells  us  that,  when,  in  1848,  Arago  witnessed  the  attraction 
and  repulsion  of  heavy  bodies  at  the  presence  of  Angelique 
Cottin,  a  nervous  factory-girl,  who,  having  begun  suddenly  to 
exhibit  this  wonderful  derangement,  was  carried  up  to  Paris, 
to  appear  before  the  Academy,  that  great  philosopher,  being 
asked  his  opinion  about  it,  remarked,  "  That  is  yet  to  be  set 
tled.  It  seems  to  have  no  identity  with  electricity;  and  yet, 
when  one  touches  her  in  the  paroxysms,  there  is  a  shock,  like 
that  given  by  the  discharge  of  the  Leyden  jar.  It  seems  to  have 
no  identity  with  magnetism  proper,  for  it  has  no  re-action  on 
the  needle ;  and  yet  the  north  pole  of  a  magnet  has  the  most 
powerful  re-action  on  her,  producing  shocks  and  trembling. 
This  is  not  effected  through  the  influence  of  her  imagination,  as 
the  magnet  has  the  same  influence,  whether  brought  secretly 
near  her,  or  otherwise.*  //  seems  a  netv  force.  At  all  events, 
whatever  it  be,  time  and  research  will  determine,  with  a  suffi 
cient  number  of  cases.  One  thing,  however,  seems  to  be  certain  : 
the  phenomena  of  this  case  show,  very  plainly,  that  whatever 
the  force  is  which  acts  so  powerfully  from  the  organism  of  this 
young  girl,  it  does  not  act  alone.  It  stands  in  mysterious  rela 
tion  to  some  mundane  force,  which  acts  and  re-acts  with  it. 
This  is  witnessed  in  the  re-action  which  external  things  have 
upon  her  person,  often  attracting  her  with  great  power.  It  is  a 
curious  inquiry,  and  may  open  to  us  new  resources  in  the  nature 
of  man  and  of  the  world,  of  which  we  have  little  dreamed." 

In  two  bulky  volumes,  published  in  1855,  Count  Agenor  de 
Gasparin,  takes  a  view  of  the  question  not  dissimilar  to  that  of 
President  Samson,  whom  he  quotes  and  commends.  The  Count 


*  This  is  no  proof,  however,  that  her  imagination  may  not  have  operated  in  the 
case;  for  her  clairvoyance  may  have  enabled  her  to  detect  the  instances  in  which 
the  magnet  was  secretly  brought  near  her. 


222  PLANCHETTE. 

is  a  leading  Protestant  writer  of  the  evangelical  school,  and  is 
well  known  to  Americans.  He  avows  his  belief  in  the  reality  of 
the  early  phenomena,  gives  an  extended  narrative  of  facts  elicited 
by  himself  at  a  series  of  sittings,  in  1853,  an^  shows  the  fallacy  of 
Faraday's  attempted  explanation.  He  replies,  at  length,  to  the 
suggested  fear  that  to  admit  the  facts  will  give  ground  for  super 
stition  and  credence  in  false  miracles.  He  shows  the  marked 
line  between  just  confidence  in  undeniable  facts  and  the  perver 
sions  of  imagination,  by  reference  to  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  the 
old  Roman  historian,  who  refers  to  ta£/<?-revelations  the  perfect 
counterpart  of  those  of  1848.  The  people  of  Rome  were  expect 
ing  that  Theodorus  would  become  the  emperor;  and,  of  course, 
when  the  tables  were  consulted,  they  gave  the  letters  of  that 
name;  whereas  it  proved  that  Theodosius  became  the  emperor. 
He  quotes,  also,  Tertullian's  mention,  in  these  words  :  "  Mensa 
divinare  consueverunt :  "  Tables  are  accustomed  to  divine. 

He  quotes  a  case  examined  by  Chamillard,  doctor  of  the  Sor- 
bonne,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  in  which  the  same  result  was 
reached  as  that  reported  by  the  French  Academy's  commission  to 
report  on  Mesmer's  experiments,  which  prior  result  was  thus  sen- 
tentiously  recorded  :  "  Multa  ficta,  pauca  vera,  a  dsemone  nulla  :  " 
Many  things  fictitious,  a  feiv  true,  from  a  demon  none.  Coming  to 
the  consideration  of  the  natural  cause  of  the  phenomena,  Gaspa- 
rin  ascribes  them  to  the  excess  of  nervous  susceptibility.  All  that 
is  real  in  such  as  are  regarded  as  supernatural  is  to  be  found,  he 
thinks,  in  an  undue  and  diseased  action  of  the  nervous  organism. 
He  quotes  from  Arago  what  that  philosopher  says  on  the  subject 
of  Mesmer's  experiments:  "  Effects,  analogous  or  inverse,  might 
evidently  be  occasioned  by  a  fluid  subtle,  invisible,  impondera 
ble;  by  a  sort  of  nervous  fluid,  or  of  magnetic  fluid,  if  this  be 
preferred,  which  may  circulate  in  our  organs."  He  also  quotes 
from  Cuvier,  who  was  of  opinion  that  the  effects  of  mesmerism 
are  clearly  due  "  to  some  sort  of  communication  established  be 
tween  the  nervous  systems  "  of  the  subject  and  the  operator. 

His  conclusion  is  substantially  like  that  of  the  Report  of  the 
French  Commission  on  Mesmerism ;  namely,  that  the  reported 


THEORY    OF    HALLUCINATION.  223 

phenomena  of  the  so-called  spiritual  manifestations  are  to  be 
referred  partly  to  errors  of  testimony,  arising  from  the  natural 
spirit  of  man  to  exaggerate  the  character  and  number  of  the 
facts;  partly  to  the  hallucination  of  an  excited  imagination, 
which  suggests  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  cause  as  supernat 
ural  ;  and  chiefly  to  the  real  action  of  the  nervous  fluid,  by  which 
phenomena  analogous  to  those  in  electricity  and  magnetism  are 
wrought. 

The  new  and  irreconcilable  facts  that  have  come  up  since 
Gasparin  arrived  at  these  conclusions,  make  his  theory  wholly 
unsatisfactory  at  this  time.  It  will  not  do  to  attribute  to  hallu 
cination  the  results  of  the  calm  scrutiny  of  hundreds,  nay, 
thousands,  of  competent  observers,  free  from  all  undue  excite 
ment  or  bias,  investigating  the  phenomena  with  the  perfect 
composure  which  continued  familiarity  must  always  give,  and 
actuated  by  no  sectarian  or  anti-sectarian  preconceptions. 
There  are  a  multitude  of  witnesses  now  to  the  extraordinary,  as 
well  as  to  the  ordinary,  facts  of  Spiritualism ;  and  some  other 
hypothesis  must  be  resorted  to  than  that  of  "  errors  in  testi 
mony."  When  such  men  as  De  Morgan,  Wallace,  -Varley, 
Denton,  Owen,  Wilkinson,  Shorter,  Howitt,  Leighton,  Cole- 
man,  Gunning,  Gray,  Mountford,  Ashburner,  Bell,  Farrar,  Liv- 
ermore,  Brittan,  and  hundreds  of  others  in  all  the  various 
professions,  testify  to  a  certain  class  of  phenomena,  the  pooh- 
pooh  argument,  in  reply,  has  lost  its  power,  and  falls  flat, 
except  on  the  ears  of  the  uninformed. 

To  admit  all  the  marvellous  facts  of  Spiritualism,  and  still  to 
reject  the  spiritual  hypothesis  in  accounting  for  them,  seems 
to  require,  at  the  first  thought,  a  greater  stretch  of  credulity 
than  the  wildest  spiritual  belief.  But  Mr.  J.  W.  Jackson,  of 
England,  an  experienced  mesmerist,  a  man  of  science,  and  a 
full  believer  in  spiritual  realities,  admits  the  most  startling  of 
the  recent  phenomena;  but,  like  Sir  David  Brewster,  will  not 
"  give  in  "  to  the  theory  of  spiritual  agency  in  their  production. 
He  assumes  that  mesmerism,  minus  spirits,  explains  all.  He 
treats  modern  Spiritualism  as  Comte  treats  all  religious  creeds, 


224  PLANCHETTE. 

simply  as  a  new  illustration  of  the  same  tendency  of  mind  which 
induced  the  human  race,  in  earlier  ages,  to  attribute  great  natu 
ral  phenomena,  such.as  thunder,  eclipses,  volcanoes,  &c.,  to  the 
intervention  of  spiritual  beings,  angry  deities. 

"  The  spiritual  hypothesis,"  he  says,  "  is  the  product  of  a  law 
of  the  human  mind,  in  virtue  of  which  it  is  impelled  to  supple 
ment  knowledge  by  superstition ;  and  so,  when  there  is  no  as 
signable  cause  for  a  phenomenon,  it  is  at  once  relegated  to  the 
realm  of  miracle."  —  "Originating  in  a  mental  necessity  for 
assigning  some  cause,  real  or  imaginary,  for  every  clearly  recog 
nized  effect,  the  spiritual  hypothesis  is  an  inevitability  with 
minds  at  the  theologic  stage,  whenever  a  phenomenon  tran 
scends  the  range  of  recognized  scientific  knowledge."  —  "In 
earlier  ages,  the  spiritual  hypothesis,  or,  in  other  words,  a 
theory  of  the  miraculous,  amply  sufficed  as  an  explanation  of 
all  otherwise  inexplicable  phenomena." 

In  reply  to  these  views,  Mr.  Andrew  Leighton  remarks,  "I 
doubt  not  every  competent  and  patient  investigator  will  find 
that,  after  the  most  careful  discrimination  of  facts,  after  dis 
counting  all  that  is  clearly  mundane,  and  all  that  is  not  clearly, 
but  only  possibly,  mundane,  there  will  remain  a  residuum,  which, 
if  we  are  to  attempt  the  resolution  of  the  facts  at  all,  will  necessi 
tate  the  supramundane  hypothesis,  and  thus  render  it,  so  far 
from  being  '  inadmissible,'  really  the  only  rationally  admissible 
one,  since  it  will  be  found  to  be  the  only  hypothesis  adequate  to 
cover  all  the  facts." 

The  rival  hypothesis  he  sets  down  as  this  :  "  That  the  brain 
has  in  it  active  potentialities  unknown  to  consciousness,  —  not 
only  unknown,  but  opposed  to  consciousness ;  to  which  poten 
tialities,  as  a  last  resource,  must  be  referred  the  otherwise  inex 
plicable  and  indomitable  facts." 

''  Notwithstanding,"  adds  Mr.  Leighton.  "  what  has  been 
said  as  to  the  rationality,  and  indeed  necessity,  of  the  spiritual 
hypothesis,  it  is  not  meant  that  this  is  to  be  held,  except  as  an 
hypothesis,  ready  to  be  yielded  up  immediately  that  another 
capable  of  more  perfectly  explaining  the  facts,  in  accordance 


MR.  j.  w.  JACKSON'S  THEORY.  225 

with  all  other  truths  of  science,  can  be  produced.  Until  the 
scientific  mind,  par  excellence,  shall  produce  that,  it  had  better 
suppress  its  scorn  and  its  supercilious  condescensions." 

With  respect  to  the  facts  of  Spiritualism,  Mr.  Jackson  makes 
as  large  admissions  as  any  Spiritualist  could  desire;  yet  his 
explanation  is  substantially  the  same  as  that  of  other  upholders 
of  the  anti-spiritual  hypothesis. 

"  Spiritual  manifestations,"  he  says,  "are  divided  into  mental 
and  physical;  and  the  spiritual  hypothesis  presupposes  that, 
under  each,  there  are  phenomena  to  whose  production  Nature 
is  inadequate.  Let  us  now  test  this  in  reference  to  the  first 
class,  where  it  may  be  freely  admitted  that  you  not  only  have 
intelligence,  but  supersensuous  intelligence;  that  is,  you  obtain 
information  beyond  the  ordinary  cognition  of  the  medium,  and 
sometimes  beyond  the  knowledge  or  experience  of  any  one 
present  at  the  circle,  and  this,  too,  in  reference  to  things  past, 
distant,  or  future.  It  is  in  this  way,  indeed,  that  you  have 
obtained  a  very  large  moiety  of  your  converts,  and  those  too 
often  of  a  rather  superior  order  of  intellect;  and  yet  there  is 
nothing  here  but  a  manifestation  of  that  clairvoyant  power  with 
which  the  mesmerist  has  been  long  familiar. 

"After  more  than  twenty  years'  experience,  in  which  I  have 
employed  lucides  of  various  ages  and  of  both  sexes,  I  could  not 
fix  the  limits  of  this  extraordinary  faculty,  and  say,  Here  the 
natural  power  of  the  medium  terminates,  and  there  spiritual  aid 
must  have  supervened.  This  probably  reveals  to  you  the  key 
by  which  I  propose  to  unlock  the  mysteries  of  the  circle.  The 
latter,  when  rightly  constituted,  is  a  most  powerful  mesmeric 
battery,  of  whose  nervo-vital  current  the  medium  is  the  duly 
susceptible  recipient.  Now,  in  the  present  very  imperfect  state 
of  our  knowledge,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  predicate  the  maxi 
mum  of  result  obtainable  under  such  conditions,  and  unless  we 
can  do  so,  the  assumption  of  spiritual  aid,  in  any  particular 
case,  is  perfectly  gratuitous;  quite  permissible  as  a  soothing 
succeedaneum  to  undisciplined  minds,  but  altogether  inadmissi 
ble  as  a  scientific  hypothesis.  The  same  remark  applies  to 

'5 


226 

spontaneous  exaltation,  whether  of  a  literary,  artistic,  or  even 
prophetic  character,  on  the  part  of  a  medium.  Such  unusual 
displays  of  mental  power  are  simply  manifestations  of  ecstatic 
lucidity,  taking  that  particular  form ;  and,  in  the  present  state 
of  our  knowledge,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  say  what  are  the 
unaided  limits  of  a  gifted  human  mind  in  this  direction." 

On  the  subject  of  levitation,  elongation  of  body,  and  other 
phenomena,  Mr.  Jackson  says,  "  But  when  we  find  lightness  of 
body  frequently  recorded  as  an  accompaniment  of  ecstatic  illu 
mination,  not  only  in  Christian,  but  also  Brahminical  and 
Buddhistic  legends,  the  idea  is  at  once  suggested  that  it  may  be 
the  result,  in  certain  temperaments,  of  unusually  exalted  nervous 
function.  Such  facts  suggest  the  institution  of  further  experi 
ments,  rather  than  the  hasty  formation  of  a  spiritual  hypothesis  ; 
for  they  seem  to  indicate  that  nervo-vital  power  has  in  it  an 
element  antagonistic  to  the  action  of  gravitation ;  and  lightness 
of  body  may  be  only  an  extreme  manifestation  of  this  force,  the 
accompaniment  of  a  crisis,  or  the  effect  of  consentaneous  action 
in  a  well-constituted  and  harmonious  circle  of  human  organ 
isms." 

As  to  the  movements  of  ponderable  articles,  these  are  referred, 
by  Mr.  Jackson,  to  "  the  intervention  of  life-power  under  condi 
tions  not  yet  known  to  science." 

Upon  this  Mr.  Leighton  remarks,  "  We  hold  that  the  intelli 
gence  and  will  implied  in  the  physical  manifestations  are  not 
those  of  the  passive  media  in  whose  presence  they  occur,  but  are 
demonstrably  those  of  beings  distinct  from  the  members  of  the 
mundane  company.  Sometimes,  as  Mr.  Jackson  knows,  they 
are  said  to  be  actually  visible  to  one  or  more  of  the  company, 
though  invisible  to  the  rest.  The  moral  argument  of  the  integ 
rity  of  the  seers  —  not  to  be  got  over  by  mere  psychological 
imputations  —  has  therefore  to  be  met,  besides  the  evidence  of 
seers  and  non-seers  alike,  when  the  physical  manifestations 
alone  are  considered.  That  '  there  is  really  nothing  more 
miraculous  in  the  apparently  spontaneous  ascent  of  a  table  to 
the  ceiling  than  in  the  corresponding  ascent  of  a  needle  under 


THE    SPIRITUAL    HYPOTHESIS.  227 

the  influence  of  a  magnet,'  is  quite  as  firmly  asserted  by  the 
Spiritualist  as  by  the  Non-spiritualist.  Why  should  Mr.  Jackson 
imply,  and  so  constantly  iterate,  the  implication  to  the  contrary? 
His  notion  of  the  intervention  of  a  vague  'life-power'  —  an 
unconscious  efflux  of  the  company,  accomplishing  all  the  intel 
ligent  voluntary  motions  imposed  upon  the  table  or  other  pas 
sive  piece  of  furniture,  sometimes  according  to  the  desire  of 
those  present,  sometimes  against  their  wishes,  and  in  defiance 
of  their  every  effort  to  prevent  them  —  approaches  far  more 
nearly  the  '  miraculous '  than  the  hypothesis  he  so  persistently 
attempts  to  identify  therewith. 

"  Repeating  the  sophism  already  exposed  in  other  relations, 
Mr.  Jackson  says,  '  As  we  are  ignorant  of  the  power  of  a  life- 
circle,  it  is  impossible  to  assign  limits  to  its  effects;  and  until 
these  are  reached,  spiritual  intervention  is  a  needless  accessory.' 
Was  it  the  life-power  of  the  circle,  which  on  one  occasion  con 
centrated  itself  in  my  presence,  seized  a  slate-pencil,  an.d  wrote 
out  a  sentence  which  was  certainly  not  in  the  mind  of  any  who 
were  visibly  present?  Was  it  the  same  power  which  manipu 
lated  the  keys  of  an  accordion,  and  played,  with  artistic  ability 
and  feeling  never  surpassed,  the  tune  of  '  Home,  Sweet  Home,' 
in  opposition  to  the  expressed  wishes  of  several  present,  who 
asked  for  other  tunes?  Talk  of  the  miraculous  in  Spiritualism! 
Can  any  thing  be  more  miraculous  or  gratuitous  than  the  con 
ceptions  of  this  votary  of  science  in  his  endeavors  to  escape  the 
only  hypothesis  which,  without  straining,  naturally  and  com 
pletely  covers  all  the  facts  ?  To  assume  that  the  mesmeric  power 
of  the  circle,  in  any  form  or  degree,  is  capable  of  accounting  for 
such  facts,  appears  to  us  as  gratuitous,  not  to  say  ridiculous,  as 
to  apply  Faraday's  unconscious  muscular  hypothesis  in  explana 
tion  of  the  movement  of  physical  objects  upon  which  there  was 
no  muscular  impact,  or  upon  which  the  muscular  impact  was 
strenuously  exerted  the  opposite  way." 

The  remarks  of  the  "London  Spiritual  Magazine"  (May, 
1868),  in  relation  to  Mr.  Jackson's  theory,  deserve  to  be  quoted 
in  this  connection.  We  here  subjoin  them  :  — 


228  PLANCHETTE. 

"Mr.  Jackson,  the  author  of  '  Ecstatics  of  Genius,'  and  of 
various  lectures  on  mesmerism,  has  long,  like  other  magnetists, 
found  a  great  difficulty  in  accepting  the  phenomena  called  spir 
itual  as  actually  proceeding  from  spirits.  Some  years  ago,  a 
friend  of  ours,  on  reading  Mr.  Jackson's  mesmeric  publications, 
told  him  that  he  saw  exactly  where  he  was,  —  that  he  was  on  the 
staircase  leading  to  the  chambers  of  Spiritualism,  but  had  not 
reached  the  rooms  for  which  the  staircase  was  built.  Mr.  Jack 
son  is  on  the  staircase  still,  and,  to  all  appearance,  likely  to 
remain  there.  In  an  address  delivered  some  time  ago  to  the 
Glasgow  Spiritualists,  he  assured  them  that  he  fully  admitted 
the  reality  of  the  phenomena  which  they  attributed  to  spiritual 
influence,  but  that  he  was  quite  satisfied  himself  that  spirits  had 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  them.  In  this  assurance  we  are 
persuaded  that  Mr.  Jackson  is  perfectly  sincere;  and,  still  more, 
that  he  cannot  possibly  come  to  any  othei  conclusion.  It  is  the 
result  of  the  pre-occupation  of  his  brain  with  lucid  magnetic 
theories,  from  which  he  can  no  more  escape  than  the  bird  that 
is  once  enclosed  in  the  net  of  the  fowler.  That  he  will  ever 
persuade  a  single  Spiritualist,  however,  to  adopt  his  convic 
tions,  we  cannot  encourage  him  to  hope.  Louis  Biichree,  in  his 
'  Natur  und  Geist '  and  '  Kraft  und  Stoff,'  and  Carus  Sterne,  in 
his  '  Naturgeschichte,'  have  gone  over  the  whole  of  his  ground 
most  elaborately  and  ably,  but  with  the  discouraging  result  of 
convincing  nobody  who  had  come  to  the  examination  of  these 
phenomena  with  a  mind  free  from  professional  theories. 

"Many  men,  eminent  for  their  habits  of  metaphysical  re 
search;  many  men  of  profound  science,  —  have  tested  the  char 
acter  of  these  phenomena,  and  have  been  compelled  to  adopt 
the  spiritual  theory  as  the  only  one  capable  of  explaining  them. 
Professor  Hare,  of  America,  entered  on  this  inquiry  with  as 
strong  a  persuasion  as  any  man  has  ever  entertained,  that  he 
should  rout  the  spiritual  theory  altogether.  As  a  man  of  prac 
tical  science,  a  profound  electrician,  and  an  avowed  disbeliever 
in  revelation,  he  entered  on  the  inquiry  with  the  utmost  care, 
and  pursued  it  with  the  utmost  pertinacity  for  two  years;  but  he 


THE    ANTI-SPIRITUAL    HYPOTHESIS.  220 

came  out  of  it  a  firm  believer  in  the  spiritual  agency,  con 
curred  in  the  manifestations,  and  proclaimed  himself  a  thorough 
Christian.  Judge  Edmonds,  as  a  lawyer,  went  through  the  same 
laborious  inquiry  with  the  same  result.  Professor  Mapes  and 
Dr.  Gray,  of  America,  are  also  examples  of  philosophers  as 
accomplished  and  as  practical  as  those  who  are  likely  to  follow 
in  the  same  track.  If  philosophers,  as  Mr.  Jackson  affirms,  be 
the  only  men  capable  of  unravelling  the  mystery  of  these  phe 
nomena,  here  we  have  a  number  of  them;  and  their  decision  is 
adverse  to  his  position. 

"Mr.  Jackson  in  a  stately  and  ex  cathedra  style  assures  us 
that,  in  his  opinion,  physical  laws  will  explain  the  whole  of 
the  phenomena.  That  such  laws,  and  others  yet  little  known, 
are  at  work  in  these  matters,  every  one  knows ;  but  it  seems  to 
us  to  require  very  little  acquaintance  with  these  things,  to  per 
ceive  that  the  laws  which  operate  in  them  are  conjointly  resident 
in  spirits  incarnate  and  spirits  de-carnated.  Mr.  Jackson  refers 
to  the  great  fact,  that  the  intelligences  involved  in  these  phe 
nomena  have  uniformly  asserted  that  they  are  individual  and 
actual  spirits,  and  not  mere  laws  and  forces ;  have  asserted  this 
in  every  country  and  to  every  class  of  people ;  and  he  thinks  he 
has  an  answer  to  this  rather  strong  fact.  In  all  ages  and  coun 
tries,  he  says,  communications,  professing  to  proceed  from  spir 
its,  have  reflected  the  creeds  and  opinions  of  those  to  whom 
they  came.  Pagans,  Greek,  and  Roman  philosophers,  Buddh 
ists,  Brahmists,  Chinese  followers  of  Fohi  and  Lootse,  Chris 
tian,  Catholic,  and  Protestant,  all  have  received  communications 
in  accordance  with  their  own  beliefs.  Nay  :  mythologic  gods 
have  appeared  to  mythologists ;  the  Virgin  Mary  and  Catholic 
saints,  to  Catholics.  Mr.  Jackson's  conclusion,  therefore,  is,  that 
all  these  communications  and  apparitions  are  the  objective  re 
sults  of  the  subjective  powers  and  spirits  of  those  who  indulge 
in  these  occult  practices  and  speculations. 

"The  fact  is  correct  and  historical;  but  the  explanation,  in 
our  opinion,,  comes  from  a  very  different  quarter.  It  is  the 
result  of  a  fixed  law,  —  'like  draws  to  like.'  Beyond  this,  we 


230  PLANCHETTE. 

know  enough  now  to  understand  that  spirits  carry  with  them 
into  the  other  world  the  views,  opinions,  habits,"  creeds,  preju 
dices,  andv  self-wills  which  had  taken  possession  of  them  here. 
The  immense  hosts  of  spirits,  '  gone  before,'  are  always  anxious 
to  perpetuate  their  peculiar  faiths  and  opinions  amongst  their 
successors  on  earth,  and  spare  no  pains  or  disguises  to  effect 
this.  To  the  old  Greeks  and  Romans  they  came  in  the  shape  of 
their  gods  ;  they  delivered  oracles  to  them  as  their  gods  ;  to  the 
Roman  Catholics  they  came  as  the  Holy  Mother,  and  as  saints 
and  saintesses.  To  those  who  think  themselves  philosophical, 
they  still  come  as  Socrates,  Bacon,  Shakespeare,  Franklin,  and 
the  like,  though  with  very  little  evidence  of  the  intellect  or 
genius  of  those  great  souls.  As  the  Romans  believed  that,  at 
the  battle  of  Cannae,  their  soldiers  and  those  of  the  Carthagi 
nians  still  continued  the  conflict  in  the  air  after  they  were  slain; 
and  as  the  hosts  of  Attila,  in  the  battle  of  the  Huns,  were  said 
to  do  the  same, — we  believe  and  have  no  doubt,  that  every 
species  of  departed  spirit,  and  that  in  hosts  and  countless  bat 
talions,  are  still  zealously  infusing  their  own  views,  and  the 
views  of  their  partisanships,  into  the  minds  of  their  successors 
on  earth,  and  endeavoring  to  rule  here  still,  and  thus  stir  up  the 
worst  passions  and  practices  of  this  afflicted  world. 

"Now,  though  the  forces  operating  in  these  phenomena,  pro 
fess  themselves  to  belong  to  different  churches  and  religions, 
different  creeds  and  philosophies,  they  all  agree  in  one  point; 
namely,  that  they  are  individual  spirits,  and  not  mere  forces, 
or  laws  physical  or  spiritual.  Their  evidence  regarding  this  fact 
is  clear,  uniform,  and  persistent;  and  for  this  universal  and 
unvarying  expression  there  must  be  a  cause,  and  that  cause  can 
not  be  a  lie.  Why  should  mere  laws,  physical  or  spiritual, 
be  lies?  How  can  they  be  lies,  if  they  are  laws  and  forces 
impressed  upon  the  living  cosmos  by  its  Creator?  Mr.  Jackson, 
on  reflection,  must  perceivg  the  dilemma  into  which  his  theory 
has  led  him.  And  let  him  for  a  moment  suppose  that  these 
powers,  whatever  they  be,  had  as  uniformly,  as  clearly  and 
persistently  declared  themselves  to  be  merely  laws  and  forces ; 


JUDGMENTS    OF    THE    SCIENTIFIC.  23! 

suppose,  in  fact,  that  they  had  declared  themselves  on  the  side 
of  the  philosopher,  —  does  he  not  see  with  what  an  lo  Psean  of 
triumph  they  would  have  been  received?  with  what  a  clamor 
the  philosopher  would  have  denounced  all  attempts  to  declare 
them  not  laws  and  forces,  but  spirits  ? 

"Mr.  Jackson  is  of  opinion  that  scientific  men  are  the  only 
ones  qualified  to  judge  of  these  phenomena,  and  to  bring  to 
light  what  they  really  are.  No  idea  can  be  more  delusive. 
That  scientific  men  are  the  best  judges  of  their  own  natural 
laws  and  processes,  we  readily  admit;  but  in  these  phenomena 
there  are  laws  in  operation  which  they  are  totally  ignorant  of, 
and  which  they  cannot  possibly  test  by  any  apparatus  or  mate 
rials  in  their  laboratories.  Beyond  and  besides  this,  they  are, 
from  their  prejudices  and  adopted  theories,  totally  disqualified 
for  a  clear  and  effective  examination  of  this  question.  Their 
minds  have  become  stereotyped  in  particular  theories,  to  which 
the  phenomena  of  Spiritualism  run  counter.  Mr.  Jackson  him 
self  is  a  living  proof  of  such  men  being  totally  disqualified  for 
the  free  and  penetrating  examination  of  such  a  subject.  He 
believes  in  all  the  phenomena,  but  denies  the  conclusions  drawn 
by  the  common  sense  of  many  millions  of  men,  and  can  bring 
himself  to  believe  that  intelligences  which  can  come,  and  reason 
acutely,  and  make  themselves  seen,  heard,  and  felt  avowedly  as 
individual  spirits,  are  mere  laws  and  forces  emanating  from,  or 
existing  in,  the  persons  who  perceive  them. 

"And  what  is  really  astounding  is,  that  Mr.  Jackson,  whilst 
uttering  so  decided  an  opinion,  shows  that  he  has  totally  misun 
derstood  the  nature  of  the  phenomena  on  which  he  discourses. 
He  puts  into  the  same  category  the  '  flowers,  fruit,  birds,'  &c., 
'  which  form  the  stock  wonders  of  the  circle.'  He  imagines 
them  to  issue  from  the  vital  forces  of  the  circle  itself,  and 
to  disappear  and  dissolve  again  rapidly.  This  may  apply  to 
the  hand  which  appears  at  the  Davenport  seances,  and  to  the 
flowers  which  were  brought  by  the  apparition  wife  of  Mr.  Liver- 
more,  of  New  York;  but  the  flowers,  fruits,  &c.,  which  are  pro 
duced  at  the  seances  of  Mr.  Guppy,  and  the  birds  which  have 


232  PLANCHETTE. 

appeared  at  these  stances,  are  real  earthly  flowers  and  birds, 
which  are  brought  through  walls  and  doors  of  closed  rooms, 
and  remain.  One  of  the  birds  remains  in  a  cage  to  this  day. 
Some  of  the  fruits  are  kept  by  those  who  received  them.  They 
were  not  produced  by  any  physical  power  of  the  circle.  They 
came  whence  no  one  knew;  and  they  could  not,  therefore,  come 
in  consequence  of  any  internal  power  exercised  by  the  party 
assembled.  They  must  be  brought  by  beings,  reasoning  beings 
out  of  the  flesh ;  and  no  philosopher  can  possibly  propound  a 
more  simple  or  palpable  theory  than  the  universal  one,  that 
they  are  brought  by  spirits  who  affirm  themselves  to  be  spirits. 

"  Again,  the  iron  collar,  which  we  now  hear  is  made  to  pass 
over  the  head  of  a  youth  in  America,  though  seven  inches  less 
in  interior  circumference  than  the  head,  is  not  a  collar  evolved 
magically  from  the  minds  or  the  latent  forces  of  the  persons  of 
the  circle,  but  is  an  actual  collar,  made  without  any  hinge  or 
opening  by  the  blacksmith.  The  philosopher,  who  shall  explain 
this  phenomenon,  must  know  a  great  deal  more  about  matter 
than  the  most  profound  physiologist  who  ever  lived;  and,  in 
our  single  opinion,  it  can  never  be  explained,  except  on  the 
hypothesis  that  matter,  under  the  influence  of  spirit,  is  in  a 
condition  totally  different  from  its  condition  when  operated 
upon  solely  by  natural  laws,  however  subtle  and  potent. 

"We  are  so  far  from  entertaining  Mr.  Jackson's  idea  that 
scientific  men  are  the  best  qualified  to  examine  these  singular 
phenomena,  that  we  feel  sure  that  so  soon  as  they  are  compelled, 
like  himself,  to  admit  the  reality  of  the  facts,  their  scientific 
prejudices  will  lead  them  vehemently  to  endeavor  to  treat  them 
as  the  results  of  material  laws,  as  he  himself  does.  This  will 
assuredly  become  the  philosophical  phase  of  the  question,  when 
ever  the  denial  of  the  fact  is  at  an  end.  We  cannot  hope,  that, 
on  having  made  this  step  of  advance,  the  philosophers  will 
have  got  much  nearer  the  truth,  because  they  will,  from  habit, 
persist  in  seeking  for  the  solution  of  the  mystery  in  a  direction 
in  which  it  is  not  to  be  found.  The  plain  sense  of  mankind  will 
still  inarch  on  far  ahead  of  them." 


DOUBLE-GOERS.  233 

Another  critic  asks,  "  Has  not  Mr.  Jackson  resuscitated  the 
theories  of  Democritus  and  Epicurus,  peopling  the  universe  with 
EWw/la,  or  imagery  the  objective  world  has  mirrored  forth  into 
space?  Epicurus  tell  us  that  our  brain  imagery  is  constantly 
flitting  about,  distinguishable  from  the  reflected  forms  of  an 
objective  reality,  by  its  greater  subtileness  and  evanescent  char 
acter.  He  says,  'The  imagery  of  the  senses,  and  of  our  phan 
tasy,  are  realities  ('Evapyr/f  <Uoyof),  and  cannot  be  denied.' " 

We  do  not  see  a  difficulty  in  admitting  both  the  pneumatic 
and  apneumatic  solution  for  these  manifestations.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  many  of  the  minor  phenomena,  attributed  with 
sincerity  by  many  partially  developed  mediums  to  spirits,  may 
be  produced  by  the  unconscious  exercise  of  spiritual  powers 
latent  in  the  individual;  while  other  phenomena  are  of  so  ex 
traordinary  a  character  that  the  more  rational  explanation  may 
be  found  in  the  theory  of  the  application  of  an  external  spirit 
ual  intelligence  or  force. 

The  narratives  of  apparitions  of  living  persons  are  very 
numerous,  and  the  facts  collected  in  this  volume  are  not  incon 
sistent  with  the  possibility  of  such  phenomena.  The  Germans 
have  a  familiar  word  to  designate  persons  of  whom  they  are 
related  ;  calling  them  doppelgangers  or  double-goers.  Jung  Still 
ing  says,  "Examples  have  come  to  my  knowledge  in  which  sick 
persons,  overcome  with  an  unspeakable  longing  to  see  some 
absent  friend,  have  fallen  into  a  swoon,  and  during  that  swoon 
have  appeared  to  the  distant  object  of  their  affection." 

In  his  "  Footfalls  on  the  Boundary  of  another  World,"  Robert 
Dale  Owen  gives  a  number  of  narratives  which  he  personally 
took  pains  to  authenticate  in  relation  to  this  subject.  We  select 
the  following :  — 

"In  May,  1840,  Dr.  D ,  a  noted  physician  of  Washington, 

was  residing  with  his  wife  and  his  daughter,  Sarah,  near  Piney 
Point  in  Virginia.  One  afternoon  the  two  ladies  were  walking 
out  in  a  copse-wood  not  far  from  their  residence,  when,  at  a  dis 
tance  on  the  road,  coming  towards  them,  they  saw  a  gentleman. 
'Sally,'  said  Mrs.  D ,  'there  comes  your  father  to  meet  us.' 


234  PLANCHETTE. 

'I  think  not,'  the  daughter  replied  :  '  that  cannot  be  papa;  it  is 
not  so  tall  as  he.' 

"As  he  neared  them,  the  daughter's  opinion  was  confirmed. 

They  perceived  that  it  was  not  Dr.  D ,  but  a  Mr.  Thompson, 

a  gentleman  with  whom  they  were  well  acquainted,  and  who 
was  at  that  time,  though  they  then  knew  it  not,  a  patient  of  Dr. 

D 's.  They  observed  also,  as  he  came  nearer,  that  he  was 

dressed  in  a  blue  frock-coat,  black  satin  waistcoat,  and  black 
pantaloons  and  hat.  Also,  on  comparing  notes  afterwards, 
both  ladies,  it  appeared,  had  noticed  that  his  linen  was  particu 
larly  fine,  and  that  his  whole  apparel  seemed  to  have  been  very 
carefully  adjusted. 

"  He  came  up  so  close  that  they  were  on  the  very  point  of 
addressing  him,  but  at  that  moment  he  stepped  aside,  as  if  to  let 
them  pass ;  and  then,  even  while  the  eyes  of  both  the  ladies  were 
upon  him,  he  suddenly  and  entirely  disappeared. 

"The  astonishment  of  Mrs.  D and  her  daughter  may  be 

imagined.  They  could  scarcely  believe  the  evidence  of  their 
own  eyes.  They  lingered,  for  a  time,  on  the  spot,  as  if  expect 
ing  to  see  him  re-appear;  then,  with  that  strange  feeling  which 
comes  over  us  when  we  have  just  witnessed  something  unexam 
pled  and  incredible,  they  hastened  home. 

"They  afterwards  ascertained  through  Dr.  D ,  that  his 

patient  Mr.  Thompson,  being  seriously  indisposed,  was  confined 
to  his  bed ;  and  that  he  had  not  quitted  his  room,  nor  indeed  his 
bed,  throughout  the  entire  day. 

"It  may  properly  be  added,  that,  though  Mr.  Thompson  was 
familiarly  known  to  the  ladies,  and  much  respected  by  them  as 
an  estimable  man,  there  were  no  reasons  existing  why  they 
should  take  any  more  interest  in  him,  or  he  in  them,  than  in 
the  case  of  any  other  friend  or  acquaintance.  He  died  just  six 
weeks  from  the  day  of  the  appearance. 

"The  above  narrative  is  of  unquestionable  authenticity.  It 

was  communicated  in  Washington  in  June,  1859,  by  Mrs.  D 

herself,  and  the  manuscript  being  submitted  to  her  for  revision, 
was  assented  to  as  accurate." 


DUPLICATED    FORMS.  235 

Our  friend,  Mr.  Benjamin  Coleman,  supplies  the  following 
remarks  on  this  subject :  "  Among  the  most  intelligent  in 
quirers  with  whom  I  conversed  at  Brighton,  was  a  lady  of  title. 
She  told  me  that  she  was  one  of  those  present  at  the  Davenport 
seance,  held  at  the  residence  of  Sir  Hesketh  Fleetwood.  She 
was  seated  in  the  dark  seance  by  the  side  of  a  gentleman,  whose 
previous  skepticism,  he  confessed  to  her,  was  fast  disappearing 
in  the  face  of  the  facts  they  were  witnessing,  when  a  light  was 
suddenly  struck,  and  both  of  them  distinctly  saw  the  form  of  Ira 
Davenport  glide  close  past  them.  This  incident  very  much  dis 
turbed  the  confidence  of  Lady  L ,  and  entirely  satisfied  the 

skeptic  that  imposition  was  practised ;  and  he  left  the  room  a 

confirmed  unbeliever.     I  told  Lady  L ,  that,  on  his  return  to 

London,  Mr.  Ferguson*  spoke  to  me  of  this  very  fact,  as  one  of 
the  most  curious  that  had  yet  occurred  at  any  of  the  seances. 
He  was  holding,  he  said,  the  box  of  matches,  as  he  usually 
does,  when  the  box  was  snatched  from  his  hand,  and  a  light  was 
struck  by  the  invisible  operator;  and,  during  the  momentary  ig 
nition  of  the  match,  he  plainly  saw  a  form,  apparently  of  a  hu 
man  figure.  He  said  nothing  at  the  moment,  but  whispering  the 
fact  to  Mr.  Fay,  he  confirmed  it ;  and  afterwards  several  of  those 
present  admitted  that  they,  too,  had  seen  it.  Mr.  Ferguson, 
however,  was  not  aware  that  any  one  present  supposed  it  to  be 
the  actual  person  of  Ira  Davenport,  as  no  observation  to  that 
effect  was  made ;  and,  as  Ira  Davenport  was  seen  instantly 
afterwards,  when  the  light  was  restored,  fast  bound  to  his  chair, 

it  was  simply  impossible  that  the  suspicions  of  Lady  L and 

her  friend  could  have  been  well  founded.  But  admitting  that 
two  competent  witnesses  did  actually  see  the  form  of  Ira  Daven 
port  on  that  occasion,  it  is  corroborative  of  a  very  important 
and  interesting  fact,  and  distinct  phase  of  these  puzzling  mys 
teries  of  spiritual  appearances ;  namely,  the  duplication  of  in 
dividual  form  . 

*  The  Rev.  J.  B.  Ferguson,  of  Tennessee,  a  gentleman  who  has  given  a  good  deal 
of  attention  to  the  spiritual  phenomena,  and  whose  testimony  is  believed  to  be  above 
suspicion.  He  was  with  the  Davenports  for  a  time  in  England. 


236  .   .;  PLANCHETTE. 

"Mr.  Ferguson,  who  did  not  on  that  occasion  recognize  the 
resemblance  to  Ira  Davenport,  nevertheless  has,  as  he  solemnly 
asserts,  seen  at  other  times,  when  alone  with  them,  the  entire 
duplicated  form  of  Ira  Davenport,  and  a  part  of  Mr.  Fay;  and, 
in  my  first  conversation  with  the  Davenport  Brothers,  they  told 
me,  among  other  curious  facts  of  their  extraordinary  history, 
that  persons  had  said  they  had  met  one  or  the  other  of  them  in 
places  where  they  had  not  been.  On  one  occasion  their  father 
went  to  a  neighboring  shop  to  order  some  fruit,  when  he  was 
told  by  the  shopkeeper  that  his  son  Ira  had  just  been  there,  and 
had  already  ordered  the  fruit.  It  was,  however,  satisfactorily 
proved  that  Ira  had  not  left  the  house,  and  that  the  man  must 
have  seen  his  '  wraith '  or  '  double.' 

"I  may  as  well  anticipate  the  question  that  will  no  doubt  arise 
in  the  minds  of  many:  'That  supposing  the  spirit  of  a  living 
person  can  assume  a  natural  form  and  become  an  active  intelli 
gent  agent,  producing  mechanical  effects,  may  not  that  account 
for  much  of  what  we  are  accustomed  to  attribute  to  the  presence 
of  the  spirits  of  departed  persons?' 

"  I  answer,  '  Yes! '  but  not  all.  We  have  too  much  evidence  of 
spiritual  individual  identity,  and  too  many  instances  of  direct 
intelligence,  perfectly  independent  of  surrounding  witnesses,  to 
admit  the  possibility  of  our  own  spirits  acting  on  all  occasions 
the  double,  and  deceiving  our  senses. 

"Again  it  may  be  asked,  'Do  you  think  that  any  of  the  phe 
nomena  which  we  are  accustomed  to  attribute  to  spirits  of  the 
dead  may  be  produced  by  the  spirits  of  the  living? '  and  again,  I 
answer,  'Yes!'  After  close  observation  and  calm  reflection 
upon  the  whole  range  of  these  Davenport  manifestations,  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  that  the  rope-tying  and  untying,  the  handling 
and  carrying  about  of  musical  instruments,  &c.,  are  partly 
effected  by  their  '  doubles,'  and  it  may  be  that  these  are  in  part 
assisted  by  other  spirits.  The  unerring  certainty  with  which 
the  same  phenomena  are  produced  in  the  presence  of  the  Daven 
ports  day  after  day  tends  to  confirm  the  opinion  that  their  own 
'spirits,'  or  'doubles,'  pioduce  many  of  the  mechanical  effects 


APPARITIONS    OF    LIVING    PERSONS.  237 

which  we  witness.  On  one  occasion  when  they  were  bound  in 
the  usual  manner  within  the  cabinet,  and  the  test  of  filling  their 
hands  with  flour  was  applied,  a  group  of  four  hands  was  seen ; 
and  one  of  them  I  plainly  satv  ivas  covered  ivith  flour. 

"And  another  idea  occurs  to  me:  as  it  is  certain  that  four 
instruments  are  played  upon  at  one  time,  requiring  the  agency 
of  six  or  eight  hands,  it  maybe  that  the  medium's  hands  are  not 
only  duplicated,  but  that  they  are  triplicated  and  multiplied  ac 
cording  to  the  necessities  of  the  case,  and  the  existing  condi 
tions  and  strength  of  the  medium-power.  We  know  that  there 
is  upon  record  ample  evidence  of  apparitional  appearances  of 
persons  still  living,  sometimes  seen  at  the  point  of  death, 
sometimes  days  before,  and  held  to  be  death  warnings ;  and  at 
other  times  of  persons  in  health,  and  remaining  so  for  an  inde 
finite  period,  and  again  there  are  instances  of  persons  seeing 
themselves.* 

"From  these,  and  many  other  sources,  much  corroborative 
evidence  may  be  obtained  to  establish  the  fact  that  the  spirit- 
forms  of  living  persons  have  been  seen  at  various  times  and 
places,  and  the  theory,  which  I  now  venture  to  suggest,  is,  that 
many  manifestations  -which  Spiritualists  are  accustomed  to  attrib 
ute  to  the  spirits  of  the  departed  are,  in  truth,  effected  by  their 
o-wn  doubles. 

"  This  idea  can  in  no  degree  destroy  our  cherished  belief  in 
the  power  of  departed  spirits  to  communicate  with  us.  On  the 
contrary,  it  tends  to  confirm  it;  for  if  spirits  in  the  flesh  can 
assume  a  tangible  form  and  actually  produce  certain  mechan 
ical  effects,  why  may  not  spirits  out  of  the  flesh  be  able  to  do  all 
this  and  much  more?  Let  it  be  once  recognized  that  spirit  is  a 
living  entity  when  separated  from  the  fleshly  body,  having  a 
dynamic  power  over  matter,  and  the  great  difficulty  which  en 
shrouds  the  materialistic  mind  vanishes.  I  am  not  wedded  to  a 
dogma  on  this  or  any  other  subject.  I  am  only  concerned  to 

*  Kerner  relates  a  case  in  which  Mrs.  Hauffe,  who  was  ill  in  bed  at  the  time,  sud 
denly  perceived  the  appearance  of  herself  seated  in  a  chair.  As  Iterner  himself  saw 
nothing,  the  vision  will  of  course  be  set  down  by  the  incredulous  as  purely  subjective. 


238  PLANCHETTE. 

uphold,  in  opposition  to  the  arrogant  assumptions  of  ignorant 
skeptics,  that  the  phenomena  of  which  we  speak  are  not  to  be 
attributed  to  delusion,  to  legerdemain,  or  to  any  recognized 
natural  cause." 

If  in  the  human  organism  there  are  powers  which  enable  a 
man  to  see  without  eyes,  and  to  do  the  work  of  the  corporeal 
senses  without  the  aid  of  those  senses,  then  we  may  infer  that  it 
is  through  the  exercise  of  a  faculty,  independent  not  only  of  the 
particular  organ  of  sense,  but  of  the  whole  physical  body.  Mr. 
Jackson  admits  that,  "in  virtue  of  our  being  spirits,  we  possess 
the  powers  manifested  by  spirits,"  and  that  "  there  is  not  the 
least  necessity  for  going  outside  of  ourselves  for  these  things." 
Why,  then,  should  the  mere  dropping  of  our  material  husk  at 
death  disable  us  from  producing,  as  disembodied  spirits,  the 
same  effects  we  could  produce,  through  our  purely  spiritual 
faculties,  while  we  were  in  the  flesh? 

Undoubtedly,  many  phenomena  referred  by  inexperienced  ob 
servers  to  the  agency  of  spirits  do  not  require  a  supramundane 
solution.  Whether  in  or  out  of  the  corporeal  form,  the  human 
spirit  may  have  certain  powers;  and  its  phenomenal  manifesta 
tions,  whether  it  be  in  its  embodied  or  disembodied  state  (and 
when  we  speak  of  body  we  mean  only  the  visible  earthly  body}, 
may  have  many  points  of  similarity.  It  may  sometimes  be  diffi 
cult  to  trace  the  origin  of  facts  occurring  along  that  mysterious 
border-land,  where  the  visible  and  invisible  seem  to  blend. 

The  advocates  of  the  no-spirit  theory  have  much  to  say  of 
"  unconscious  cerebration  "  and  the  controlling  agency  of  the 
will ;  but  may  not  this  be  only  another  name  for  that  spiritual 
contact  of  our  souls  with  the  spiritual  world,  from  which,  ac 
cording  to  Swedenborg,  we  get  so  many  of  our  impressions? 

The  puerile  character  of  many  of  the  communications  for 
which  a  spiritual  origin  is  claimed ;  the  reckless  assumption  of 
the  names  of  great  men  and  women  by  pretended  spirits;  the 
author  of  some  imbecile  doggerel,  claiming  to  be  Shakespeare; 
the  designer  of  some  atrocious  picture,  signing  himself  Michael 
Angelo ;  and  the  utterer  of  some  stupid  commonplace  asking  us 


FALLIBILITY    OF    SPIRITS.  239 

to  believe  he  is  Lord  Bacon,  —  of  course  make  the  spiritual  pre 
tensions  of  the  communicants  ridiculous  in  the  estimation  of 
most  persons  of  taste.  But  when  it  is  realized  that  spirits  are 
not  a  kind  of  minor  gods ;  that  they  carry  with  them  the  charac 
ters  they  formed  in  this,  or,  it  may  be,  in  anterior  lives ;  that 
there  are  among  them  the  frivolous,  the  vain,  the  mendacious, 
and  the  malignant,  with  all  their  imperfections  on  their  heads, 
just  as  they  left  this  world,  — the  fact  that  a  worthless  communi 
cation  may  yet  be  spiritual  in  its  origin  does  not  seem  so  difficult 
of  belief. 

These  indications  that  the  next  life  is  a  state  similar  in  kind 
to  this  present  life,  and  only  a  step  higher  in  an  ascending  series 
of  existences ;  one  into  which  we  carry  our  human  nature,  and 
in  which  progress  *  is  but  gradual,  —  are  contrary  to  the  general 
theological  conceptions  of  the  next  stage  of  being,  and  are  dis 
tasteful  to  the  feelings  of  many,  whose  notions  of  the  hereafter, 
of  the  "saved"  and  the  "elect,"  are  of  a  state  of  passive  beati 
tude.  But  perhaps  the  views  of  modern  Spiritualism  on  this 
subject  derive  some  support  from  analogy,  harmonizing  as  they 
do  with  those  facts  of  physical  progress  taught  by  geology  and 
by  the  study  of  organic  forms  from  primeval  times. 

Since  we  have  an  eternity  before  us,  in  which  to  grow  in 
knowledge  and  in  virtue,  why  should  we  expect  to  mount  at 
once,  without  any  merit  or  effort  of  our  own,  to  the  summit  of 
all  possible  bliss  and  wisdom?  Spiritualism,  rightly  under 
stood,  might  teach  us  that  the  true  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not 
without  man,  either  in  this  present  or  in  any  other  home,  where 
his  spirit  may  successively  dwell  in  those  "  many  mansions," 
the  scenes  of  the  divine  bounty  and  power;  but,  as  Christ  tells 
us,  within,  in  the  will,  the  affections,  and  the  mind. 

Our  sketch  of  the  noteworthy  theories  that  have  been  put 

*  "Mortal  progress,"  says  H.  J.  Slack,  "and,  for  aught  we  know,  part  of  immortal 
progress  also,  is  accompanied  by  occasional  retrogression."  Or,  perhaps,  our  course 
of  ascension  being,  as  Goethe  tells  us,  spiral,  what  may  seem  retrogression  may  be 
one  of  the  conditions  of  progress. 


240  PLANCHETTE. 

forth  on  the  subject  of  these  phenomena  would  be  incomplete 
without  a  mention  of  that  of  Professor  Daumer,  whose  work, 
"  Das  Geisterreich,"  appeared  in  Dresden  in  1867.  According  to 
his  pneumatology,  "  Ghosts  are  neither  bodies  nor  souls,  but  a 
third  entity  which  he  calls  eidolon,  by  which  he  understands  the 
direct  self-manifestation  and  representation  of  the^syc/fce  (soul). 
The  soul  is  restricted  to  the  corporeal  exhibition  only  so  long  as 
it  animates  the  body.  Once  released,  by  the  death  of  the  latter,  it 
can  manifest  its  immanent  reality  in  any  way  it  pleases.  It  can 
even  reproduce  whole  episodes  from  its  former  life,  including 
any  number  of  figures  of  itself  or  of  other  persons.  It  can  also 
produce  sounds,  and  perform  other  material  acts." 

We  have  already  seen  that  Baron  Reichenbach,  a  distinguished 
German  chemist,  and  the  discoverer  of  creosote,  finds  in  what  he 
calls  od  or  the  odic  force  the  medium  of  many  phenomena.  He 
reports  that  his  sensitive  subjects  saw,  at  the  poles  of  the  magnet, 
odic  light,  and  felt,  from  the  near  contact  of  large  free  crystals, 
odic  sensations,  which  by  Reichenbach  himself,  and  others  as 
insensible  as  he  to  odic  impressions,  were  wholly  unperceived. 

At  first  distrustful  of  the  spiritual  significance  of  certain 
phenomena,  Reichenbach,  if  we  may  believe  Mr.  D.  Hornung, 
of  Berlin,  now  entertains  views  not  opposed  to  Spiritualism. 
While  in  London  in  1861,  at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Cowper,  son- 
in-law  of  Lord  Palmerston,  he  attended  a  spiritual  circle. 

"On  that  occasion,"  says  Mr.  Hornung,  "two  media,  Mrs. 
Marshall  and  her  niece  were  present,  who  did  not  understand  a 
word  of  German.  Reichenbach  therefore,  after  the  rapping  had 
commenced,  put  his  questions  intentionally  in  German ;  and 
they  were  answered  correctly  by  raps  on  the  table,  and  he  had 
the  names  of  several  members  of  his  family  correctly  given.  In 
regard  to  one  name,  however,  he  began  to  doubt  the  capacity  of 
the  table  to  give  it;  the  name  to  be  spelled  being  '  Frieder- 
icke,'  while  it  spelled  the  letters  '  R.  I.'  But  when  the  name 
'  R  I  C  K  E  '  was  completed,  the  baron  was  much  surprised,  as 
his  sister  had  been  wont  to  be  called  '  Ricke.' 

"  Now  comes  the  most  remarkable  part  of  the  performance, 


REICHENBACH    ON    SPIRITUALISM.  24! 

and  I  give  it  in  the  baron's  own  words.  He  says,  '  The  answers 
were  rapped  by  the  foot  of  the  table  in  a  brightly  lighted  room. 
I  wished  to  ascertain  whether  the  rapping  could  not  be  pre 
vented,  and  for  this  purpose  I  leaned  with  my  breast  against  one 
of  the  feet  of  the  table,  taking  hold  of  two  others  with  both 
hands,  and  pressing  them  down.  The  rapping  of  the  feet 
ceased ;  but  the  rapping  continued  above  me,  on  the  top  of  the 
table.  All  at  once,  by  a  sudden  jerk,  the  table  dragged  me  for 
ward,  with  the  carpet  on  which  it  stood ;  and  I  lay  prostrate  in 
the  middle  of  the  room.' 

"  This  experiment  convinced  the  baron  that,  besides  the 
emanation  of  the  odic  element,  higher  spiritual  powers  can 
manifest  themselves ;  and  these  he  now  no  longer  ignores,  but 
recognizes  them  as  facts  of  experience,  for  which,  however,  he  as 
yet  knows  no  explanation."  He  regards  "the  great  influences 
of  od  upon  the  human  spirit "  as  the  mere  t;  physical  side  of  the 
matter," —  "  the  roots  by  which  it  adheres  firmly  to  the  ground ;  " 
and  he  is  thankful  to  see  the  day  when  all  his  former  discoveries 
show  themselves  as  the  portal  through  which  it  is  possible  for 
him  "  to  go  forward  into  the  spiritual  department." 

A  writer  in  "  Human  Nature,"  under  the  signature  of  "  Ho- 
nestas,"  is  of  opinion  that  the  transition  brought  about  by  death, 
though  carrying  with  it  a  vast  change,  does  not  so  completely 
alter  our  nature  as  to  render  mundane  intercommunication  im 
possible.  The  laws  governing  the  physical  conditions  of  the 
next  sphere  must  be  in  harmony  with  those  that  rule  this,  to  us, 
natural  world ;  these  laws  being  only  an  outgrowth  from  those 
of  our  present  condition,  and  correlatives  of  them. 

Why  then  is  the  intercommunication  restricted  to  the  limited 
bounds  of  a  medium's  presence?  The  writer  aphoristically 
replies,  Within  our  coarser  earth-body  dwells  an  ether-body, 
which  derives  its  elementary  sustenance  from  the  ether  or  odic 
element,  from  out  which  this  visible,  ponderable  world  has 
grown  forth,  with  its  plastic,  centralizing  tendency.  Our  ether- 
body  manifests  its  presence  in  the  nerve  aura,  or  odic  element 
(first  noticed  by  Reichenbach),  in  the  streaming  forth  of  a 

16 


242  PLANCHETTE. 

mediated,  organically  centralized  ether  element,  which  ele 
ment  sustains  this  ether-body,  —  in  the  same  manner  as  the  food 
and  earth  elements,  which  the  organism  assimilates,  support 
our  bodily  condition.  A  double  action  is  thus  carried  on  in 
the  animal  organism ;  namely,  a  drawing  of  supply  from  the 
centralized  earth  elements,  simultaneously  with  that  from  the 
primary  ether  or  odic  element.  In  the  mesmeric  fluid  which 
passes  from  the  mesmerizer  to  his  subject,  the  odic  force  is 
transmitted;  and  a  connection  is  established  between  the  two, 
sufficiently  primary  to  mediate  a  physical  correspondence  be 
tween  them.  Here  is  the  key  to  the  solution  of  the  problem 
of  spiritual  manifestations. 

These  are  divisible  into  psychical  and  physical.  The  psychi 
cal  effects  are  produced  by  an  action  akin  to  the  mesmeric 
action  ;  that  is,  the  mind  of  the  operating  agent,  by  an  action 
of  the  will,  throws  a  current  of  the  odic  power  of  its  nerve 
aura  on  to  the  nerve  aura  of  the  terrestrial  being,  and  an  effect 
similar  to  that  of  the  mesmerizer  upon  his  patient  results ;  a 
phenomenon  too  well  known  to  need  explanation. 

The  second,  or  physical  effects,  arise  from  an  action  upon  the 
organically  mediated  free  nerve  aura  of  the  body  of  the  medium, 
which  aura  enables  the  spirit  to  create  an  organism  or  mechan- 
-ism,  rendering  action  upon  our  ponderable  matter  possible,  and 
allowing  of  the  production  of  the  physical  phenomena  of  sound, 
movement  of  bodies,  &c. ;  appearances  familiar  to  the  observer 
of  spiritual  manifestations.  This  centralization  can  only,  how 
ever,  take  place  by  means  of  the  mediating  presence  of  the 
nerve  aura,  enabling  a  condensation  into  ponderable  matter  to 
be  effected.  The  visible,  ponderable  world  is  but  a  phase  in  the 
great  chain  of  ever  -  continuing  progress  and  development. 
The  imponderable,  and,  to  us,  invisible  world,  is,  in  reality, 
the  permanent  and  lasting  state,  from  out  which  the  soul  brings 
with  it  its  principle  of  life,  that  which  is  continuous  and  imper 
ishable,  the  power  of  mediating  for  its  own  use  the  supplying 
element.  It  has,  too,  the  power,  by  right  of  its  earth-born  state 
and  bodily  organism,  of  mediating  the  coarser,  ponderable  ele- 


THEORY    OF    HONESTAS.  243 

ments  of  our  present  condition.  But  the  terrestrial  mediation 
can  only  be  effected  by  the  aid  of  an  organism  fitted  for  that 
special  object  and  use.  This  mechanism  our  earth-body  fur 
nishes.  The  spirit-soul  does  not,  however,  possess  this :  its 
organism  is  different,  finer,  undoubtedly  more  complex  than 
ours. 

By  the  transition  called  death,  the  soul  has  parted  with  this, 
for  mundane  purposes,  adapted  organism.  But  to  enable  a  spirit 
to  operate  upon  material  things,  an  organism  has  to  be  formed 
adapted  for  that  function :  this  embodying  cannot,  however, 
take  place  unless  aided  by  the  mediating  presence  of  the  organic 
nerve  aura  of  a  living  being.  In  the  embryonic  evolution,  the 
mediating  element  is  the  maternal  one ;  and  here,  too,  in  obe 
dience  to  laws  of  development,  the  embryo  being,  once  having 
attained  its  growth,  takes  its  place  on  earth  with  an  inde 
pendent  central  self-existence.  The  spirit-soul,  when  incarnat 
ing  itself  in  a  material  envelope,  can  only  do  so  by  the  aid  of  the 
nerve  aura  of  a  living  being,  upon  which  it  only  momentarily 
acts,  which  action  is  rendered  possible  by  the  accident  of  an 
affinity,  enabling  a  temporary  use  to  be  effected,  —  this  use  being 
restricted,  however,  within  the  narrow  limits  prescribed  by  the 
supply  which  the  organism  of  the  medium  furnishes ;  and, 
further,  subject  to  endless  interruptions  from  external  causes ; 
as,  for  instance,  over -excitement,  or  alarm,  or  atmospheric 
changes. 

The  extreme  uncertainty  Of  spiritual  phenomena;  the  diffi 
culty,  even  when  produced,  of  prolonging  their  duration  beyond 
a  few  minutes ;  and  more  especially  the  difficulty  of  giving  a 
continuity  to  the  more  developed  forms  of  spirit  appearances,  — 
confirms  this  view  of  the  dependence  of  visible,  tangible,  spirit 
ual  manifestations  upon  our  organism,  and  the  necessity  of  an 
agreement  of  our  natures  with  the  spirit  operating  upon  the 
nerve  aura  of  the  medium. 

This  writer  gives  the  name  of  pre-development  to  that  change 
of  organic  form  of  our  ether-body  taking  place  during  life,  and 
by  which  the  transition  to  the  next  state  is  mediated,  prepared. 


244  PLANCHETTE. 

This  change  is  always  in  accord  with  the  sphere  we  have  to  join 
after  death.  And  the  centre  —  second  centre  —  is  the  organism 
thus  changed  to  adapt  itself  to  the  onward  and  next  sphere. 
Decay  and  death  follow  this  change  as  a  necessary  sequel ; 
that  is,  as  pre-development  proceeds,  we  cast  off  the  organism 
adapted  for  this  life;  it  becomes  old,  not  nourished  by  the  sup 
plying  elements  that  hitherto  sustained  it. 

According  to  Leibnitz,  every  germ  has  its  pre-existence. 
Every  grade  or  plane  of  development  of  phenomenal  life  is  the 
outgrowth  of  .a  pre-existing  state  of  things,  which  has  prepared 
the  elements  from  which  it  has  been  evolved.  This  is  a  funda 
mental  law  of  nature.  The  grade  beneath  and  the  grade  above 
are  intimately  connected  with  the  gradation  in  which  we  exist. 
In  every  grade,  the  next  and  superior  grade  exercises  its  influ 
ence,  creates,  or  rather  renders  the  growth  possible,  of  an 
organism  adapted  for  existence  in  the  next  sphere,  plane,  or 
grade. 

We  owe  to  the  law  of  pre-development  continuance  of  our 
individuality.  Were  it  not  for  a  growth  preparatory  to  the 
entering  into  a  next  sphere  or  state,  such  grade  not  being 
mediated,  rendered  by  prior  growth  fit  for  our  organism,  con 
tinuous  life  would  be  impossible.  Step  by  step,  mediated  by 
prior  growth,  the  soul  progresses  onward  and  onward  in  never- 
ending  ascent  to  the  highest  conceivable  unfoldment  of  our 
natures.  The  past  is  everlasting:  the  phenomenal  life  of  the 
present  is  but  an  unfolding  of  the  past;  and  the  future,  of  which 
this  state  will  be  the  past,  will  be  again  only  an  unfoldment  of 
the  present. 

Accepting  the  theory  of  progressive  growth,  as  proved,  the 
writer  maintains  that  the  forms  of  the  world  beyond  this  exist 
ence,  must  have  developed  from  the  forms  of  the  antecedent 
grades  out  of  which  they  have  been  evolved,  and  that  preserva 
tion  of  the  type  of  the  human  form  follows  the  soul  in  its 
onward  step  into  the  next  world. 

Our  next  organism  is  mediated,  prepared,  by  our  mundane 
organism;  and,  this  being  so,  it  must  depend  in  its  development 


DR.  ASHBURNER'S  THEORY.  245 

upon  two  conditions,  physical  and  psychical ;  must  carry  with 
it,  as  it  passes  into  the  next  sphere,  the  impress  of  the  character 
of  its  progress  on  earth.  Thus  our  sins  and  shortcomings 
impress  themselves  on  our  very  organism ;  and  the  life  that 
now  is  shapes  the  life  that  is  to  be. 

Such  is  an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  theory  of  this  ingenious 
writer,  who  brings  to  the  discussion  a  full,  practical  acquaint 
ance  with  the  most  remarkable  of  the  phenomena  obtained 
through  Mr.  Home  and  other  mediums. 

Dr.  John  Ashburner,  the  translator  of  Reichenbach's  "  Dyna 
mics  of  Magnetism,"  and  who  was  one  of  the  first  men  in  Eng 
land  to  investigate  and  accept  the  phenomena  of  1848,  in  his 
latest  work,  entitled  "Notes  and  Studies  in  the  Philosophy  of 
Animal  Magnetism  and  Spiritualism,"  argues  that  every  law  in 
the  natural  or  physical  world  depends  on  the  "  grand  trunk  force 
of  universal  gravitation,"  which  being  divisible  into  centripetal 
and  centrifugal,  in  other  words,  attractive  and  repulsive  forces, 
is,  as  the  active  principle,  traceable  through  all  the  changes 
which  take  place  throughout  the  realm  of  nature.  In  the  au 
thor's  words,  "  All  change  is  necessarily  dependent  on  these 
forces ;  no  chemical  compositions  or  decompositions  can  take 
place  without  them ;  they  regulate  the  great  orbs  in  space,  as 
well  as  the  form  of  the  minutest  of  the  primitive  crystalline 
globules,  of  which  every  crystal  in  existence  is  built  up."  "  In 
vegetable  existence,  it  determines  a  law  of  evolution  when  it 
decrees  the  folding  up  of  embryonic  forces  in  those  minute  spher 
ules  or  germ-cells  which  develop  vegetable  crystals  ;  "  and,  "  pro 
ceeding  with  these  laws,  we  observe  the  law  of  evolution  regu 
lating  more  complicated  germ-cells  in  animal  existence,  but  still 
obedient  to  magnetic  laws  of  polarity;  "  for  "  human  beings,  as 
well  as  all  other  animals,  vegetables,  and  minerals,  within  the 
magnetic  sphere  of  this  magnetic  earth,  must  necessarily  partake 
of  the  magnetic  influences  emanating  from  the  grand  trunk  force 
of  universal  gravitation."  The  author  shows  that  all  the  phe 
nomena  of  the  so-called  forces  of  heat,  light,  and  electricity,  are 
dependent  on  attraction  and  repulsion;  and  that  these  simple 


246  PLANCHETTE. 

antagonistic  forces  are  the  sole  principles  by  which  every  change, 
atomic  or  otherwise,  is  effected,  under  Almighty  guidance 
throughout  the  universe. 

The  author  is  a  stanch  opponent  of  the  materialistic  notion 
that  brain  thinks,  and  consequently  an  assertor  of  the  absolute 
inertia  of  matter,  which  the  Creator  has  made  subject  to  the  at 
tractive  and  repulsive  principles  involved  in  that  which  is  called 
gravitation  or  magnetism.  Force,  therefore,  is  the  life  and  soul 
of  matter,  which,  controlled  and  regulated  by  it,  manifests  the 
phenomena  which  are  continuously  taking  place  in  the  form, 
size,  weight,  and  color  of  objects,  from  the  least  unto  the 
greatest. 

The  condition  of  sleep  and  the  cause  of  pain  are  attributed 
to  the  state  of  the  magnetic  currents  in  the  animal  economy : 
"  Sleep  is  the  result  of  an  attractive  force,  analogous  to  the  at 
traction  of  gravitation  ;  and  wakefulness  results  from  a  repulsion, 
analogous  to  the  centrifugal  agency  constituting  a  part  of  the 
phenomena  attendant  on  the  great  trunk  force."  The  facts  ad 
duced  in  evidence  of  the  truth  of  this  position  are  highly  illus 
trative  ;  and  the  author  contends  that  cases  recorded  by  many 
surgeons  justify  the  conclusion  that  the  molecules  of  the  brain 
being  subjected  to  a  central  attractive  force,  is  the  cause  of  sleep  ; 
as  the  brain,  when  exposed,  is  seen  to  become  smaller  in  that 
state;  and  that  a  repellant  action  among  its  particles  precede 
the  wakeful  condition.  The  cause  of  pain  is  summed  up  in  the 
following:  "The  whole  body,  being  a  congeries  of  magnetic 
molecules,  must  necessarily  be  subject  to  the  laws  regulating 
polarities.  Any  change  in  the  relations  of  the  poles  of  living 
animal  molecules  must  be  productive  of  a  change  in  the  sensi 
bilities  of  the  part.  Whether  the  change  be  the  cause  of  pleas 
ure  or  of  pain,  must  depend  upon  the  faculties  of  the  individual. 
Endowed  with  a  nervous  system,  the  animal  is  susceptible  of 
sensations,  without  which,  the  idea  of  pleasure  or  pain  becomes 
absurd.  The  inference  then  remains,  that  pain  is  the  result  of 
an  extreme  disturbance  of  the  polarities  of  a  part." 

Dr.  Ashburner  accepts  the  spiritual  hypothesis  to  the  fullest 


THE    MARY   JANE    THEORY.  247 

extent,  and  thinks  that  any  other  is   wholly  unsatisfactory  in 
view  of  all  the  facts  and  phenomena  which  he  has  tested. 

Another  theory,  not  undeserving  of  mention,  is  that  put  forth 
in  a  work  published  in  London,  in  1863,  and  bearing  the  follow 
ing  extraordinary  title:  "  Mary  Jane ;  or,  Spiritualism  Chemi 
cally  Explained."  The  author's  hypothesis,  audacious  as  it  may 
appear,  is  urged  with  a  certain  show  of  scientific  learning.  He 
gives  us  the  following  summary  of  his  conclusions  :  — 

1.  Man  is  a  condensation  of  gases  and  elementary  vapors. 

2.  These  vapors  are  constantly  exuding  from  the  skin. 

3.  They  charge  (to  use  an  electrical  term)  certain  things ;  viz., 
The  sensitive  plant,  — and  it  droops.     The  human  body  (as  in 
mesmerism),  —  and  it  becomes  insensible  to  pain.     A  table,  — 
and 

4.  When  these  vapors  (which  Reichenbach  calls  odic)  emanate 
from  certain  persons,  who  appear  to  have  phosphorus  in  excess 
in  the  system,  they  form  a  positively  living,  thinking,  acting  body 
of  material  vaf>or,  able  to  move  a  heavy  table,  and  to  carry  on  a 
conversation,  &c. 

5.  That  the  other  persons  sitting  at  the  table  affect  the  quality 
of  the  manifestations,  although  the  odic  vapors  from  them  are 
not  sufficiently  strong  to  move  the  table,  or  act  intelligently 
alone. 

6.  That  we  do  not  see  the  odic  emanations  from  their  fingers, 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  question ;  for  we  can  neither  see  heat 
nor  electricity,  —  and  yet  we  admit  the  existence  of  both  from 
their  effects. 

7.  Thus,  if  the  medium  knows  nothing  of  music,  and  holds  a 
guitar,  the  sounds  given  out  will  be  discordant,  or  such  as  might 
be  expected  of  a  person  knowing  nothing  of  music;  but,  if  a 
good  performer  sits  at  the  table  at  the  same  time  as  the  medium, 
the  sounds  will  be  harmonious.     So,  if  a  medium  understands 
nothing  of  drawing,  and  paper  and  pencil  be  put  under  the  table, 
scribbles  will  be  produced;    but  if   an  artist  sits  at  the  table, 
flowers  or  other  artistic  drawings  will  be  produced ;  although,  in 
neither  case,  could  the  artist  produce  the  slightest  movement  of 
the  table,  or  manifestation  whatever,  without  the  medium. 


248  PLANCHETTE. 

8.  That  this  odic  being  thinks  and  feels  exactly  as  the  persons 
from  whose  body  it  emanates;  that  it  possesses  all  the  senses,  — 
seeing,  hearing,  smelling,  tasting,  feeling,  and  thinking;    that 
it  makes   up  for  the  want  of  the   muscular  organs  of  speech, 
by  either  an  electrical  power  of  rapping,  or  by  guiding  the  me 
dium's  hand,  or  by  direct  writing  with  pen  or  pencil. 

9.  That  its  power  of  sight  is  electrical;  for  it  can  see  under  a 
domino,  or  what  is  in  the  adjoining  room,  —  in  short,  where  the 
human  eye  cannot. 

10.  That  its  power  of  hearing  is  also  electrical  or  superhu 
man. 

11.  That  it  is  highly  sensitive  to  odors,  delighting  in  those  of 
flowers,  and  expressing  repugnance  to  some. 

12.  That  it  can  rap  in  two,  and  probably  more,  places  simul 
taneously. 

13.  That  it  can  carry  on  different  conversations  with  different 
individuals  at  the  same  time. 

14.  That  its  conversations  with  different  persons  will  be  re 
sponsive   to   the    affections,   the  sentiments,   and    the    religious 
belief  of  each  person  it  is  talking  with,  although  they  are  drawn 
from  one  common  source, — the  odic  vapor  concentrated  at,  or 
with  which  the  table  is  charged,  —  and  although  those  religious 
creeds  are  entirely  at  variance.     And  if  asked  for  the  name  of 
the  (presupposed)  spirit,  it  will  give  the  name  either  of  the  de 
sired  relative,  or  of  some  high  authority  (on  religious  matters) 
in  the  specific  creed  of  the  person  making  the  inquiry. 

15.  That,  from  various  concurrent  testimony,  it  appears  fully 
proved  that  this  odic  vapor  possesses  the  power  of  taking  the 
shape  of  hands,  arms,  dress,  &c.,  and  even  of  an  entire  person, 
dressed;    and,   such  fact  being   certain,   the   statement   that  in 
America  photographs  of  both  dead  and  living  persons  have  been 
obtained,  ceases  to  be  preposterous ;    but  that  the  souls  of  those 
persons   produced,  or  had  any  thing  to  do  with  those  shapes, 
does  not  appear  to  be  any  more  proved,  than  that  if  a  good  Turk 
received  a  message  signed,  "  Mahomet,"  it  would  be  accepted  as 
proof,  either  of  the  truth  of  the  message,  or  that  the  deceased 
Mahomet  had  any  thing  to  do  with  it. 


THE    THEORY    ANSWERED.  249 

16.  That,  nevertheless,  the  high  thought,  philosophy,  inde 
pendence,  conciseness,  and  deep  reflection  evinced  by  many  of 
the  answers  and  sentiments  expressed  by  the  odic  fluid,  point  to 
its  connection  with  a  general  thotight-atmosphere,  as  all-pervad 
ing  as  electricity,  and  which  possibly  is  in  itself,  or  is  in  intimate 
connection  with,  the  principles  of  causation  of  the  whole  uni 
verse. 

Such  is  the  bold  theory  of  this  chemical  investigator.  That 
the  emanations  of  the  human  body  "  may  form  themselves,  with 
out  our  knowing  any  thing  about  it,  into  a  distinct  personality, 
with  the  faculties  of  perception,  memory,  reason,  and  conscience, 
—  a  personality  that  may  rap,  write,  draw,  carry  on  general  con 
versation,  make  witty  and  moral  observations,  and  not  only 
think,  but  '  think  deeply  and  profoundly,'  and  take  to  itself  a 
name  (as,  in  the  author's  fanciful  experience,  it  took  the  name 
of  ;  Mary  Jane  '),  and,  in  short,  in  every  way  conduct  itself  like 
an  educated  and  well-behaved  member  of  society,  —  is  certainly 
an  astounding  instance  of  the  prodigious  capabilities  of  '  odic 
vapor.'  It  is  an  hypothesis  which,  if  it  does  not  merely  amuse, 
is  likely  to  startle  men  of  science  even  more  than  the  spiritual 
theory  itself;  and  their  surprise  is  not  likely  to  be  diminished 
on  learning  that  the  odic  vapor  is  convertible  into  intellect; 
that  the  odic  emanations  actually  create  life  and  intelligence; 
and  that  there  is  a  universal  thought-atmosphere,  resulting,  we 
presume,  from  the  phosphorescent  and  other  chemical  emana 
tions  from  the  collective  brain  of  humanity,  from  which  these 
vaporous  personages  get  the  information  and  ideas  which  at  the 
time  they  may  not  in  themselves  possess. 

"Admitting  the  extravagant  assumption  of  a  being  evolved 
from  the  chemical  emanations  of  our  physical  substances ;  nay, 
more,  admitting  even  that  these  emanations  are  imbued  with  our 
special  idiosyncrasies,  — with  our  mental  and  moral  qualities,  — 
still,  as  a  derivative  being,  it  could  have  only  the  knowledge, 
ideas,  and  qualities  of  those  from  whom  it  proceeded.  That 
cannot  come  out  of  a  man  which  is  not  in  him.  Hence,  as  our 
author  very  consistently  says  in  the  words  we  have  quoted : 


250  PLANCHETTE. 

'This  odic  being  thinks  and  feels  exactly  as  the  persons  from 
whose  bodies  it  emanates.'  Of  course,  if  the  hypothesis  were 
true,  it  must  do  so.  But  then,  unfortunately  for  the  hypothesis, 
this  '  odic  being  '  will  not  do  as  he  ought  to  do.  He  will  some 
times  think  and  feel  differently  from  the  persons  from  whose 
bodies  he  is  an  out-birth.  No  fact  in  this  inquiry  is  better  known 
or  more  firmly  established  than  that  spirits  exhibit  powers,  and 
maintain  opinions  surpassing,  different  from,  and  sometimes 
even  antagonistic  to  those  of  both  medium  and  circle. 

"In  some  instances  mediums  will  give  information  altogether 
outside  the  knowledge  of  themselves,  or  of  any  person  present,* 
and  exhibit  a  mental  force  transcending  their  own  natural 
powers,  as  in  others  it  will  be  equally  below  their  natural  ca 
pacity. 

"We  might  pursue  our  argument  from  every  phase  of  the 
manifestations  :  from  vision  and  prevision ;  from  dreams  and 
apparitions ;  from  impressions,  presentiments,  and  warnings ; 
from  clairvoyance  and  trance;  from  prediction,  possession,  and 
personation;  these  all  demonstrate  the  same  conclusion, — that 
the  acting  power  is  no  way  a  part  of  ourselves,  but  is  wholly 
discreted  from  us,  with  independent  thought,  affection  and  voli 
tion.  The  fact  is,  that  our  author  confounds  conditions  and 
causes.  Certain  conditions  are  found  necessary  to  certain  effects ; 
therefore,  he  reasons,  they  are  the  efficient  cause  of  them.  This 
is  just  such  a  mistake  as  it  would  be  to  attribute  a  telegram  to 
the  wires,  instead  of  to  the  operator  at  the  end  of  them." 

William  Howitt,  of  whom  we  may  say,  as  Coleridge  said  of 
Baxter  (another  Spiritualist),  "I  could  almost  as  soon  doubt  the 
gospel  verity  as  his  veracity,"  in  a  letter  published  in  1862,  and 


*  Professor  Hare  testified  to  a  message  having  been  sent  by  a  supposed  spirit,  from 
a  circle  at  Cape  May,  to  one  in  Philadelphia,  and  an  answer,  giving  assurance  of  actual 
communication,  having  been  returned  in  half  an  hour.  The  Rev.  J.  B.  Ferguson,  of 
Tennessee,  testifies  to  having  heard  native  Americans,  who  never  knew  a  word  of  Ger 
man,  discourse  for  hours  in  that  tongue  in  the  presence  of  native  Germans,  who  pro 
nounced  their  addresses  pure  specimens  of  the  power  of  their  language.  Facts  of  the 
same  sort  without  number  could  be  given. 


REMARKS    OF    WILLIAM    HOWITT.  25! 

commenting  on  the  odic  theory  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mahan  and 
others,  writes  as  follows  :  — 

"They  who  ascribe  the  powers  exercised  by  spiritual  agency  to 
odic  force,  betray  an  equal  ignorance  of  the  real  properties  of 
that  force,  and  of  the  present  status  and  facts  of  Spiritualism. 
Search  through  Reichenbach's  essay  on  this  force,  and  you  will 
find  no  trace  of  a  reasoning  power  in  it.  He  ascribes  no  such 
properties  to  it.  He  says  it  throws  a  flame  in  the  dark,  visible 
to  sensitive  persons,  such  as  the  Spiritualists  call  mediums;  that 
this  flame  is  thrown  from  magnets  of  great  power,  from  crystals, 
from  the  light  of  the  sun,  &c.  That  by  passes  made  with  mag 
nets,  or  crystals,  or  by  water  impregnated  with  the  sun's  rays, 
certain  sensations,  agreeable  or  disagreeable,  as  the  power  is 
applied,  are  induced,  but  not  a  trace  of  any  reasoning  in  this 
power,  of  any  revelation  of  facts,  of  any  pictorial  vision,  of  any 
faculty  of  prognostication.  It  cannot  tell  you  what  will  take 
place  to-morrow,  much  less  at  the  Antipodes,  or  in  the  spiritual 
world.  But  spirits  do  all  this,  and  more.  It  does  not  attract 
iron,  or  other  physical  substances,  which,  as  far  as  iron  goes,  its 
cognate,  magnetism,  does.  But  spirits  lift  iron,  or  any  other 
body  of  very  great  weight,  and  not  in  one  direction  only,  but 
carry  them  about  from  place  to  place.  Spirits  lift  heavy  tables  : 
I  have  seen  dining-tables,  capable  of  accommodating  more  than 
a  dozen  people,  lifted  quite  from  the  ground.  Spirits  play  on  all 
musical  instruments  :  they  can  carry  about  hand-bells,  and  ring 
them  in  the  air,  as  I  have  seen  them.  The  music  which  they 
produce  is  often  exquisite.  Spirits  will  draw  or  write  directly 
upon  paper  laid  for  them  in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  or,  indirectly, 
through  the  hands  of  people  who  never  took  a  lesson,  and  never 
could  draw.  I  am  ope  of  them. 

"These  are  things  which  are  not  only  going  on  in  England, 
and  amongst  my  own  friends  every  day,  but  have  been  going  on 
for  these  forty  years ;  ten  years  in  America,  and  thirty  before 
that  in*  Germany.  But,  in  America',  the  wide  diffusion  and 
constant  repetition  of  these  phenomena  have  convinced  some 
millions  of  people,  and  some  of  them  the  first  men  of  scientific 


252  PLANCHETTE. 

and  legal  ability  in  the  country.  Those  persons  have  not  be 
lieved  on  mere  hearsay,  or  mere  hocus-pocus  and  delusion,  but 
vipon  the  familiar  evidence  of  facts ;  and,  as  I  have  observed, 
for  thirty  years  before  that,  in  Germany  there  existed  a  consider 
able  body  of  the  most  eminent  philosophers,  poets,  and  scientific 
men,  familiar  with  most  of  these  things.  Amongst  these  no 
less  a  man  than  Emanuel  Kant;  and  also  Gorres,  Ennemoser, 
Eschenmayer,  Werner,  Schubert,  Jung  Stilling,  Kerner;  and, 
pre-eminent  amongst  women,  Mrs.  Hauffe,  the  Seeress  of  Pre- 
vorst,  who  professed,  not  merely  to  have  spiritual  communica 
tions,  but  to  see  and  converse  daily  with  spirits ;  and  she  gave 
continual  proofs  of  it,  as  any  one  may  see  who  reads  her  story. 

"  Now  it  is  useless  to  tell  us  that  the  odic  force,  acting  some 
how  mysteriously  on  the  brain,  can  produce  these  results.  It 
cannot  enable  people  to  draw,  and  write,  and  play  exquisite 
music,  who  have  no  such  power  or  knowledge  in  their  brains ; 
for  on  the  old  principle  ex  nihilo  nihil  fit,  no  such  things  being 
in,  no  such  things  can  come  out.  It  cannot  come  from  other 
brains,  for  there  are  often  no  other  brains  present.  If  it  could 
do  such  things,  it  would  be  spirit,  endowed  with  volition,  skill, 
and  knowledge;  and  there  would  be  an  end  of  the  dispute.  The 
condition,  therefore,  of  those  who  ascribe  these  powers  to  odic 
force,  is  that  of  one  ascribing  the  telegraphic  message  to  the 
wire,  and  not  to  the  man  at  the  end  of  it.  Odic  force  may  be 
the  wire;  for  spiritual  communications  are,  and  ever  have  been, 
made  through  and  under  certain  laws,  as  all  God's  works  always 
are :  but  it  certainly  is  not  the  intelligence  at  the  end  of 
it.  ... 

"  Whilst  the  odists  and  automatists  speculate  about  an  action 
on  the  brain,  we  cut  the  matter  short,  and  say,  There  stand  the 
spirits  themselves,  seen,  heard,  felt,  and  conversed  with. 

"More  than  six  years  ago  I  began  to  examine  the  phenomena 
of  Spiritualism.  I  did  not  go  to  paid  nor  even  to  public  me 
diums.  I  sat  down  at  my  own  table  with  members  of  my  own 
family,  or  with  friends,  persons  of  high  character,  and  serious 
as  myself  in  the  inquiry.  I  saw  tables  moved,  rocked  to  and 


WILLIAM    HOWITT'S    REMARKS.  253 

fro,  and  raised  repeatedly  into  the  air.  ...  I  heard  the  raps ; 
sometimes  a  hundred  at  once,  in  every  imaginable  part  of  the 
table,  in  all  keys,  and  of  various  degrees  of  loudness.  I  exam 
ined  the  phenomena  thoroughly.  .  .  .  Silly,  but  playful,  spirits, 
came  frequently.  ...  I  heard  accordions  play  wonderful  music 
as  they  were  held  in  one  hand,  often  by  a  person  who  could  not 
plav  at  all.  I  heard  and  saw  hand-bells  carried  about  the  room 
in  the  air;  put  first  into  one  person's  hand  and  then  into 
another's;  taken  away  again  by  a  strong  pull,  though  you  could 
not  see  the  hand  touching  them.  I  saw  dining  and  drawing 
room  tables  of  great  weight,  not  only  raised  into  the  air,  but 
when  placed  in  a  particular  direction,  perseveringly  remove 
themselves,  and  place  themselves  quite  differently.  I  saw  other 
tables  answer  questions  as  they  stood  in  the  air,  by  moving  up 
and  down  with  a  marvellous  softness.  I  heard  sometimes  blows, 
apparently  enough  to  split  the  table,  when  no  one  could  have 
struck- them  without  observation;  and  I  breathed  perfumes  the 
most  delicate.  I  saw  light  stream  from  the  fingers  of  persons 
on  the  table,  or  while  mesmerizing  some  one.  As  for  commu 
nications  professedly  from  spirits,  they  were  of  daily  occurrence, 
and  often  wonderful.  Our  previous  theological  opinions  were 
resisted  and  condemned,  when  I  and  my  wife  were  alone.  This, 
therefore,  could  be  no  automatic  action  of  our  own  brains,  far 
less  of  the  brains  of  others,  for  they  were  not  there.  We  held 
philosophical  Unitarian  opinions;  but,  when  thus  alone,  the 
communications  condemned  them,  and  asserted  the  Divinity 
and  Godhead  of  our  Saviour.  When  we  put  questions  of  a 
religious  nature  to  the  spirits,  they  directed  us  to  put  all  such 
questions  to  the  Divine  Spirit  alone.  .  .  . 

"Many  persons  that  we  know,  draw,  paint,  or  write  under 
spiritual  agency,  and  without  any  effort  or  action  of  their  own 
minds  whatever,  some  of  them  having  never  learned  to  draw. 
Several  of  my  family  drew  and  wrote.  I  wrote  a  whole  volume 
without  any  action  of  my  own  mind,  the  process  being  purely 
mechanical  on  my  part.  A  series  of  drawings  in  circles,  filled 
up  with  patterns,  every  one  different  from  the  other,  were  given 


2Cd.  PLANCHETTE. 

+}     I 

through  my  hand,  one  each  evening:  the  circles  were  struck  off 
as  correctly  as  Giotto  or  a  pair  of  compasses  could  have  done 
them;  yet  they  were  made  simply  with  a  pencil.  Artists  who 
saw  them  were  astonished,  and,  as  is  generally  the  case  in  such 
matters,  suggested  that  some  new  faculty  was  developed  in  me ; 
when,  lo !  the  power  was  entirely  taken  away,  as  if  to  show  that 
it  did  not  belong  to  me.  The  drawings,  however,  remain ;  but  I 
could  not  copy  one  of  them  in  the  same  way  if  my  life  depended 
on  it.  A  member  of  my  family  drew  very  extraordinary  and 
beautiful  things,  often  with  written  explanations,  but  exactly  in 
the  same  mechanical,  involuntary  manner.  In  fact,  most  of 
these  drawings  are  accompanied  by  explanations  spiritually 
given,  showing  that  every  line  is  full  of  meaning. 

"I  may  add  that  I  have  never  visited  paid  mediums;  but  I 
have  seen  most  of  the  phenomena  exhibited  through  Mr.  Home, 
Mr.  Squire,  and  others.  I  have  seen  spirit-hands  moving  about ; 
I  have  felt  them  again  and  again.  I  have  seen  ivriting  done  by 
spirits,  by  laying  a  pencil  and  paper  in  the  middle  of  the  floor, 
and  very  good  sense  written  too.  I  have  heard  things  an 
nounced  as  about  to  come  to  pass ;  and  they  have  come  to  pass, 
though  appearing  very  improbable  at  the  moment.  I  have  seen 
persons  very  often,  in  clairvoyant  trances,  entering  into  com 
munication  with  the  dead,  of  whom  they  have  known  nothing, 
and  giving  those  who  had  known  them  the  most  living  descrip 
tion  of  them,  as  well  as  messages  from  them.  .  .  . 

"Now  it  is  idle  talking  of  odic  force  in  the  face  of  facts  like 
these,  which  are  occurring  all  over  America,  and  in  various 
parts  of  Europe,  and  which  accord  with  the  attestations  of  men 
of  the  highest  character  in  all  ages  and  nations.  In  Greece, 
Plato,  Socrates,  Pythagoras,  and  numbers  of  others  asserted 
this  spirit-action ;  in  Rome,  India,  Egypt,  Scandinavia,  and 
aboriginal  America,  as  well  as  in  Judea  and  amongst  the  most 
eminent  Fathers  of  the  Church.  The  leading  minds  of  every 
age  but  this  have  but  one  voice  on  the  subject. 

"It  is  the  last,  vain  clutching  at  shadows  to  avoid  coming  to 
the  substance,  which  makes  those  educated  in  the  anti-spiritual 


REV.  C.  BEECHER  ON  THE  PHENOMENA.     255 

theories  of  the  past  century,  seize  so  eagerly  on  the  odic  force  as 
their  forlorn  hope.  It  will  be  torn  by  advancing  truth  from 
their  grasp.  The  cry  that  all  is  imagination  is  gone  already : 
odic  force  is  the  present  stage,  and  it  must  go  too. 

"And  here  I  could  give  you  a  whole  volume  of  the  remark 
able  and  even  startling  revelations  made  by  our  own  departed 
friends  at  our  own  evening  table ;  those  friends  coming  at  wholly 
unexpected  times,  and  bringing  messages  of  the  most  vital 
importance,  —  carrying  them  on  from  period  to  period,  some 
times  at  intervals  of  years,  into  a  perfect  history.  But  these 
things  are  too  sacred  for  the  public  eye.  All  Spiritualists  have 
them  ;  and  they  are  hoarded  amongst  the  treasures  which  are  the 
wealth  of  the  affectipns,  and  the  links  of  assurance  with  the 
world  of  the  hereafter. 

"  Now,  I  ask,  what  right  have  we,  or  has  any  one,  to  reject 
the  perpetual,  uniform,  and  voluntary  assertions  of  the  spirits ; 
to  tell  them  that  they  lie,  and  are  not  spirits,  but  merely  od,  or 
some  such  blind  and  incompetent  force?  Nothing  but  the  hard 
ness  and  deadness  of  that  anti-spiritual  education,  which  has 
been  growing  harder  and  more  unspiritual  ever  since  the  Ref 
ormation,  could  lead  men  to  such  absurdity.  Protestantism,  to 
destroy  faith  in  Popish  miracles,  went,  as  is  always  the  case,  too 
far  in  its  re-action,  and,  not  content  with  levelling  the  abuses, 
proceeded  to  annihilate  faith  in  the  supernatural  altogether." 

The  Rev.  Charles  Beecher,  in  his  able  review  of  the  apneu- 
matic  theories,  says,  "That  mind,  separating  itself  partially 
from  the  body,  even  during  this  life,  should  be  able  to  energize 
at  a  distance,  though  mysterious,  is  not  incredible.  Cicero 
recognizes  it.  Jamblichus  builds  on  it.  It  is  easy  to  conceive 
a  law  by  which  it  should  be.  But  to  say  that  brain  can  push  a 
door  open  at  a  distance,  project  odic  spectra,  visible  and  audi 
ble  to  distant  observers,  perform  on  distant  musical  instru 
ments  ;  and,  in  short,  do  whatever  the  person  would  do,  if 
physically  present;  or  that  every  particle  of  the  body  is  a  minia 
ture  of  the  whole;  and  that  these,  constantly  exhaling,  remain 
for  years,  and  coming  in  contact  with  sensitive  brains,  produce 


2^  PLANCHETTE. 

visions  of  the  person,  and  his  precise  sensuous  and  mental  state 
at  the  time  the  particle  was  elaborated,  —  these,  though  stated  as 
facts  in  a  scientific  treatise,  are  not  only  unsustained  by  evi 
dence,  but  shocking  to  the  common  mind." 

The  theory  of  automatic  mental  action,  Mr.  Beecher  regards 
as  equally  objectionable.  It  is  an  attempt  to  prove  that  intelli 
gent  manifestations  can  be  produced  unintelligently  ;  thus 
overthrowing  the  foundation  of  all  argument  from  design 
to  a  designer. 

Admit  that  the  phenomena  are  the  work  of  spirits  at  all,  and 
the  conclusion  cannot  be  resisted  that  they  are  disembodied 
spirits. 

For  what  do  the  facts  conceded  imply  that  the  embodied  spirit 
can  do?  It  can,  by  some  means,  appear  at  a  distance  from  its 
own  body,  speak  audibly,  hear  answers,  move  bodies,  perform 
on  instruments,  and  do  whatever  it  would  do  through  the  body 
if  that  were  present.  It  can  obtain  access  to  the  contents  of 
other  minds,  reveal  distant  events,  past,  present,  and  future. 
But  if  so,  the  further  concession  of  a  temporary  going  forth  of 
soul  from  body  cannot  long  be  withheld.  Mrs.  Hauffe  firmly 
declared  that  her  soul  left  the  body  and  returned.  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  believed  that  during  that  long  and 
death-like  trance  his  soul  left  the  body.  All  clairvoyants  testify 
to  the  same.  In  this  way  Cicero  accounts  for  prophetic  dreams : 
"  In  dreams,  the  soul  hath  a  vigor  free  from  sense,  and  disin- 
thralled  of  every  care,  the  body  lying  death-like.  And  since 
she  hath  existed  from  all  eternity,  and  been  acquainted  with 
innumerable  minds,  she  beholdeth  all  things  that  are  in  rerum 
natura"  * 

All  the  writings  of  antiquity  are  eloquent  with  this  grand 
idea. 

But  once  admit  this  of  the  soul  before  death,  and  how  can  it 
be  denied  after? 


*  Cicero,  it  will  be  seen,  was  inclined  to  the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis,  or  succes 
sive  re-incarnations. 


REV.  C.  BEECHER  ON  THE  PHENOMENA.     257 

Take,  for  example,  the  instance  given  by  Cicero,  as  a  favorite 
with  the  Stoics  :  Two  Arcadians  stopped  at  Megara,  one  at  an 
inn.  the  other  at  a  friend's.  At  midnight,  the  former  appeared 
to  the  latter,  asking  help  ;  for  the  innkeeper  was  about  to  murder 
him.  Roused  in  affright,  the  latter  thought  it  a  dream,  and 
again  slept.  His  friend  again  appeared,  asking  him,  as  he  had 
not  come  to  him  alive,  to  avenge  him  dead,  as  the  innkeeper 
had  now  slain  him,  and  concealed  his  body  in  a  cart  under  dirt. 
In  the  morning  he  met  the  cart  as  directed,  found  the  corpse, 
and  the  innkeeper  was  executed. 

"  Here,  if  it  be  admitted,"  says  Mr.  Beecher,  "  that  the  soul 
appeared  at  a  distance  from  the  body  before  death,  how  can  it 
be  denied  that  it  did  the  same  after? 

"Furthermore,  if  the  soul  do,  after  death,  come  in  contact 
with  the  spirit  throngs  that  environ  us,  how  deny  that  it  does 
the  same  when  severed  from  the  body  before  death  ? 

"  How  resist  the  firm  persuasion  of  Gilbert  Tennent,  and 
others,  that  he  did  actually  converse  with  spirits?  Why  should 
not  a  sleep,  so  deep  as  to  be  like  death,  produce  in  part  death's 
results,  in  introducing  the  spirit  to  scenes  behind  the  veil? 

"  Is  there  no  weight  in  the  impressive  declaration  of  the 
almost  dying  Mrs.  Hauffe",  that  while  all  sorts  of  ocular  illu 
sions  passed  before  her  eyes,  yet  '  it  was  impossible  to  express 
hoiv  entirely  different  these  ocular  illusions  •were  to  the  real  dis 
cerning  of  spirits ;  and  she  only  'wished  other  people  tvcre  in  a 
condition  to  compare  these  two  kinds  of  perception  -with  one 
another,  both  of  -which  'were  equally  distinct  from  our  ordinary 
perception,  and  also  from  that  of  the  second  sight? 

"Yet  if  such  converse  with  the  dead  be  admitted,  in  even 
one  well-authenticated  instance,  the  whole  apneumatic  argu 
ment  falls.  With  all  the  gross  consequences,  then,  of  the  cere 
bral  hypothesis,  it  is  the  only  alternative. 

"  If,  then,  such  difficulties  embarrass  the  apneumatic  hypothe 
sis,  why  not  adopt  the  pneumatic?  It  is  an  admitted  principle 
of  science,  that  that  theory  is  preferable  which  accounts  most 
naturally  for  all  the  facts  known.  The  pneumatic  theory  ac- 


258  PLANCHETTE. 

counts  for  all  facts  alleged  by  the  other  theories  as  well  as  either 
of  them ;  for  some,  better ;  and  for  many,  which  they  cannot 
account  for  at  all  without  absurdity. 

"  One  of  the  facts  most  relied  on  by  the  apneumatic  argument 
is  the  misspelling,  which,  it  is  asserted,  always  follows  the 
habit  of  the  medium.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  fact.  Cases 
are  on  record  of  misspelled  communications  coming  through 
mediums  who  could  spell  correctly,  much  to  their  chagrin. 
But  even  if  the  fact  were,  as  claimed,  it  might  be  accounted  for, 
either  by  supposing  that  illiterate  mediums  attracted  illiterate 
spirits,  or  by  supposing  that  spirits,  in  order  to  communicate, 
are  obliged  partially  to  incarnate  themselves  in  the  body  of  the 
medium,  and  to  take  on,  in  part,  its  organic  and  mental  habits. 

"  So,  also,  of  the  influence  of  drugs,  manipulations,  diseases. 
The  pneumatic  theory  is,  that  as  the  soul  may  by  these  means 
be  assisted,  or  disabled,  in  the  use  of  its  own  brain,  so  disem 
bodied  spirits  may,  in  the  use  of  an  invaded  brain.  When  the 
odyllic  conditions  are  by  these  means  prepared,  the  spirit  can 
insinuate  itself;  when  they  are  by  these  means  destroyed,  it  is 
compelled  to  forego  its  hold ;  so  in  regard  to  nervous  epidemics. 
The  theory  is,  that  these  may  exist  without  the  agency  of  disem 
bodied  spirits ;  but  that  ivhen  they  exist,  developing  proper 
odyllic  conditions,  spirits  may  be  expected  to  take  advantage  of 
them.  Hence,  to  find  cases  of  nervous  epidemics,  where  no 
indications  of  spiritual  agency  are  apparent,  proves  nothing, 
except  that  the  odyllic  conditions  were  not  favorable. 

"  While,  then,  the  pneumatic  hypothesis  accounts  for  all  the 
facts  adduced  by  the  other  theories,  as  well  as  they,  it  also 
accounts  naturally  for  other  facts  by  which  they  are  embar 
rassed.  It  is,  therefore,  probably  the  true  hypothesis.  And 
before  rejecting  it,  let  that  saying  of  Isaac  Taylor's  be  well 
pondered,  that  we  ought  not  to  reject  the  almost  universal 
belief  of  occasional  supernatural  interference,  till  we  can  prove 
an  impossibility.  '  An  absolute  skepticism  on  this  subject  can  be 
maintained  only  by  the  aid  of  Hume's  oft-repeated  sophism, 
that  no  testimony  can  establish  an  alleged  fact  which  is  at  vari- 


REV.    C.    BEECIIEK    ON    THE    PHENOMENA.  259 

ance  with  common  experience ;  for  it  must  not  be  denied  that 
some  few  instances  of  the  sort  alluded  to  rest  upon  testimony, 
in  itself,  thoroughly  unimpeachable ;  nor  is  the  import  of  the 
evidence  in  these  cases  at  all  touched  by  the  now  well-under 
stood  doctrine  concerning  spectral  illusions.' 

"Now  the  apneumatic  argument  virtually  implies  an  impossi 
bility  of  establishing  the  reality  of  spiritual  communication  by 
any  amount  of  evidence.  Suppose  a  departed  spirit,  the  wife 
of  Oberlin,*  for  example,  were  permitted  to  attempt  to  converse 
with  her  husband,  —  not  to  establish  a  new  revelation,  not  to 
display  divine  power,  but  merely  to  exercise  such  potentiality 
as  might  pertain  to  a  disembodied  spirit,  for  her  own  and  her 
husband's  edification  and  satisfaction.  How  could  she  do  it,  in 
the  face  of  the  apneumatic  theories  under  consideration  ?  She 
speaks  to  him,  moves  his  furniture,  touches  his  dress,  his  per 
son, —  all  automatic  action  of  some  brain  en  rapport  with  that 
locality!  She  sings,  plays  the  guitar  or  piano,  takes  a  pencil 
and  writes,  and  he  sees  the  pencil  in  free  space  tracing  his  wife's 
autograph,  —  automatic  still !  She  shows  him  a  cloudy  hand  ; 
nay,  a  luminous  form,  and  smiles  and  speaks  as  when  in  life; 
that  is,  an  optical  illusion,  or  hallucination,  or  a  particle  exhaled 
from  her  body  has  impinged  on  his  sensitive  brain,  and  created 
a  subjective  vision.  She  communicates  facts,  past,  present,  and 
future,  beyond  the  scope  of  his  knowledge;  that  might  be  clair 
voyance  or  cerebral  sensing.  Alas !  then,  what  could  she  do 
more?  She  must  retire  baffled,  and  complaining  that  he  had 
become  so  scientific  that  all  communication  with  him  was 
impossible. 

"But  if  the  denial  of  the  pneumatic  hypothesis  be  unphilo- 
sophical,  it  is  no  less  unscriptural." 

*  The  philanthropic  Oberlin  (1735-1806)  was  a  Spiritualist,  and  claimed  to  have  fre 
quent  interviews  with  the  spirit  of  his  departed  wife.  When  asked  how  he  could  dis 
tinguish  his  wife's  appearance  from  dreams,  he  said  to  his  inquirers,  "  How  can  you 
distinguish  one  color  from  another?"  He  told  them  that  they  might  as  well  try  to 
persuade  him  it  was  not  a  table  at  which  they  sat,  as  that  he  did  not  receive  these  visits 
from  his  wife.  At  the  same  time,  Oberlin  was  remarkably  free  from  any  trace  of  mys 
ticism  or  fanaticism.  He  was,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  a  practical  man. 


260  PLANCHETTE. 

In  a  review  of  Faraday's  exploded  argument  against  the 
spiritual  phenomena,  Mr.  Isaac  Rehn  remarks  as  follows  :  "The 
doctrine  of  the  Correlation  and  Conservation  of  Forces  is  based 
on  the  indestructibilitv  of  matter  and  force,  or,  as  by  some 
stated,  on  the  indestructibility  of  matter  and  the  persistence  of 
force-  From  this  it  is  argued  that  all  forms,  however  diversi 
fied,  are  but  the  re-appearance  of  the  primitive  atoms  of  elemen 
tary  matter  in  new  shapes ;  and,  analogous  to  this,  the  powers 
of  matter  are  but  the  re-appearance  of  the  stored  forces  of  the 
universe,  as  they  are  translated  into  heat,  electricity,  chemical 
affinity,  gravity,  light,  vitality,  mechanical  force,  &c.  Accord 
ing  to  this  theory,  wherever  mechanical  force  is  expended,  the 
given  amount  of  this  force  must  quantitatively  appear  as  some 
other  form  offeree;  it  may  be  heat  or  light,  or  both,  or  in  some 
other  form  of  force  than  either;  but  yet,  in  whatever  form  or 
forms  it  may  appear,  it  must  be  quantitativelv  the  total  of  the  ini 
tial  force,  however  much  it  may  differ  qualitatively  from  that, 
and  can  be  no  more  and  no  less. 

"It  is  still  further  urged  that  the  varied  forms  of  matter  and 
force,  as  they  affect  the  transformations  in  the  world,  are  also, 
•the  efficient  and  only  powers  through  and  by  which  all  vital 
phenomena  are  produced,  these  vital  phenomena  being  inter 
preted  in  that  large  sense  which  includes  all  intellectual  or  other 
power,  by  whatever  names  called.  Now,  it  is  another  postulate 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  correlation  of  the  forces  that  every  form 
of  force  made  to  appear,  may  also  be  made  to  appear  in  any 
other  given  form  of  force.  Thus,  if  heat  is  made  to  appear  as 
electricity,  electricity  may,  in  turn,  be  made  to  appear  again  as 
heat;  and  so  on  through  the  chapter. 

"  The  point  sought  to  be  made  against  the  spiritual  theory  is, 
that,  under  the  doctrine  of  the  correlation  of  the  forces,  vitality, 
or  vital  force,  is  the  re-appearance  of  some  other  form  of  force. 
According  to  the  law,  it  may  also  be  made  to  appear  as  the  ini 
tial  force  or  forces  engaged  in  its  production,  and  so  can  have 
no  continuity  of  existence  beyond  the  physical  duration  of  the 
present  life;  and  we  are  referred  to  the  fact,  as  a  confirmation 


CORRELATION    OF    FORCES.  261 

of  this,  that,  in  the  retrograde  decompositions  of  the  organic 
compounds  of  high  chemical  formulae  back  to  the  binary  states 
of  matter,  all  the  forces  appear  in  the  putrefactive  chemical 
changes  of  decomposition.  And  if  spirit,  therefore,  exists  in 
man,  it,  too,  must  be.  but  a  form  of  force  ;  a  translation  of  some 
other  force  which,  in  its  turn,  shall  also  be  translated,  and, 
therefore,  cease  to  be  as  spirit. 

"  It  presumes  all  forces  physical,  and  in  no  state  can  they  ever 
appear  in  which  they  may  not  re-assume  the  initial  form ;  that 
is  to  say,  that  if  all  the  world,  its  furniture  and  people,  were, 
and  are,  the  evolutions  of  transformed  nebulae,  and  the  forces 
thereof,  then  they  may,  by  the  law,  be  nebulae  again. 

"  But  to  the  point :  If  it  be  maintained,  as  it  has  been  by  some, 
that  '  the  forces  are  indestructible,  convertible,  imponderable  ob 
jects,^  it  is  not  yet  settled  how  many  such  forces  there  are.  Or, 
if  it  be  assumed  that  all  forms  offeree  are  but  the  translation  of 
one  primal  force,  it  is  no  better  settled  whether  there  are  not 
permanent  residuary  forms,  not  convertible  by  any  knowledge  we 
possess,  or  that  all  force  is, per  se,  physical,  and  that  there  can  be 
no  force  but  such  as  appears  in  transformations  of  matter,  or  in 
the  phenomena  of  heat,  electricity,  gravity,  &c.  These  points, 
I  say,  are  not  by  any  means  settled;  and,  until  they  are,  it  is  but 
begging  the  whole  argument  to  declare  all  spiritual  phenomena 
impossible  in  view  of  them. 

"The  whole  argument  might,  therefore,  be  rested  here,  since 
it  is  the  business  of  those  who  urge  the  argument,  founded  on 
the  forces,  against  us,  to  show  in  what  way  they  can  demonstrate 
by  the  '  rigid  test  of  fact  and  experiment,'  that  all  phenomena 
are  resultant  experimentally  and  logically  from  the  physical 
forces. 

"  We  simply  deny  that  such  demonstration  has  ever  been 
made,  or  that  even  the  vital  force  has  by  any  such  means  been 
made  to  appear  as  a  translation  of  the  other  forces.  The  most 
that  can  be  said  upon  this  point  is,  that  where  vital  force  exists, 
there  the  other  forces  are  brought  into  play,  and  this  nobody 
pretends  to  deny.  We  may  also  admit  that  vital  force  nowhere 


262  PI.ANCHETTK. 

appears  in  the  absence  of  the  others ;  and  Mr.  Faraday,  or  any 
body  else,  is  welcome  to  all  the  use  that  can  be  made  of  this  ad 
mission. 

"  But  who  ever  heard  of  consciousness  being  translated  into 
heat,  gravity,  mechanical  force,  &c.  ?  Where  are  the  demonstra 
tions  that  the  treasury  of  the  memory,  with  the  thousand  inci 
dents  which  make  up  the  record  of  our  experience,  and  give  us 
the  incontestable  proof  of  personal,  individual  existence  is  con 
vertible  into  electricity  or  chemical  affinity?  For,  if  the  doctrine 
of  the  correlation  of  forces  is  to  be  brought  against  us,  we  have 
a  right  to  insist  upon  the  terms  upon  which  its  demonstrations 
are  had,  which  are,  in  brief,  that  any  form  of  force  correlated  to 
another  form,  is  susceptible  of  translation  forward  and  back-ward, 
at  the  will  of  the  demonstrator.  With  heat,  electricity,  chemical 
affinity,  mechanical  power,  and  magnetism,  this  may  be  done. 
With  the  affections,  memory,  consciousness,  intelligence,  and 
vitality,  it  has  not  been  done,  and,  in  all  probability,  never  will 
be  done.  Until  this  latter  has  been  accomplished  demonstra 
tively,  our  Spiritualism  is  in  no  danger  of  annihilation  from 
arguments  founded  on  the  correlation  of  forces,  any  more  than 
from  damage  by  the  other  futile  arguments  of  the  learned  Pro 
fessor  Faraday." 

A  psychological  theory,  for  which  the  writer  does  not  claim 
entire  originality,  but  which  he  states  with  unexampled  clear 
ness,  is  that  contained  in  a  little  volume  published  by  Triibner  & 
Co.,  London  (1868),  and  entitled  "  Chapters  on  Man;  with  the 
Outlines  of  a  Science  of  Comparative  Psychology.  By  C.  Stani- 
land  Wake,  Fellow  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  London." 
Though  the  theory  is  not  based  to  any  extent  on  the  recent  sur 
prising  phenomena  of  Spiritualism,  the  writer,  by  a  course  of 
scientific  reasoning,  arrives  at  results  not  inconsistent  with  the 
great  fact  of  spirit  existence,  and  which  accord  with  the  teach 
ings  of  St.  Paul,  who,  it  is  contended,  distinguishes  between  the 
soul,  or  psyche,  and  the  spirit,  or  pneuma,  of  man. 

According  to  Mr.  Wake,  the  principle  of  being  on  which  man's 
superior  mental  development  depends,  is  the  spirit  of  reflection. 


MR.  WAKE'S  PSYCHOLOGY.  263 

or  simply,  as  distinguished  from  the  soul  essence,  or  psyche,  the 
spirit,  or  pneutna.  "It  is  by  the  addition  of  such  a  spiritual 
agent  we  can  alone  account  for  the  superior  phenomena  of  the 
human  mental  life.  Founded,  as  those  phenomena  are,  in  the 
simple  sensational  perceptions  which  the  lower  animals  also 
possess,  we  see  in  them  the  gradual  development  of  a  perception 
so  different  in  its  objects  as  to  be  necessarily  due  to  the  activity 
of  a  superior  principle  of  being.  The  final  result  of  this  per 
ception  is  the  knowledge  of  the  intuitions  of  truth,  which  are 
the  very  life  of  the  soul  essence;  a  knowledge  which  requires 
the  operation  of  a  spiritual  principle  existing  beyond  the  soul, 
although  intimately  connected  with  it.  Having  no  such  exter 
nal  principle  of  spiritual  activity,  the  lower  animals  can  never 
obtain  any  knowledge  of  the  soul's  intuitions,  or  of  those  gen 
eral  truths  which  are  the  expression  of  them  in  relation  to  ex 
ternal  nature. 

"  It  is  thus  that  the  brute  creatures  are  the  mere  instruments 
of  the  soul's  activity,  operating  through  the  bodily  organism; 
whilst  man,  having  discovered  the  intuitions  which  are  thus  ac 
tive,  realizes  them,  and  makes  them  instruments  for  his  advance 
ment  in  knowledge,  and  for  the  subjection  of  the  forces  of  nature 
to  his  own  purposes. 

"  The  relation  between  the  soul  and  spiritual  essences,  or  be 
tween  foe.  psyche  and  pneuma,  is  clearly  seen  from  the  nature  of 
the  spiritual  activity,  which  leads,  not  to  any  change  of  mental 
operations,  but  merely  to  the  improvement  of  thought  objectiv 
ity.  The  soul  can  of  itself  perceive  only  the  individual  objects 
presented  to  the  eye ;  but  when  joined  to  the  spirit,  it  takes  cog 
nizance,  not  only  of  the  ever-varying  phenomena  of  nature,  but 
also  of  the  qualities  of  objects  on  which  the  changes  in  such 
phenomena  depend,  and  even  creates  those  symbols  which,  as 
objects  of  thought,  give  it  so  increased  a  range  and  activity. 
The  spirit,  having  to  do  only  with  the  object,  and  not  with  the 
thought  itself,  may  be  classed  with  the  bodily  eye,  as  an  instru 
ment  of  soul  vision,  —  the  one  giving  perception  of  the  mate 
rial  forms  of  nature,  the  other  of  its  spiritual  forces;  and  in 


264  PLANCHETTE. 

this  relation,  although  having  a  much  enlarged  objectivity,  it 
may  be  identified  with  that  faculty  of  reflection  which,  accord 
ing  to  Locke,  is  a  chief  source  of  our  ideas. 

"  As,  however,  the  soul  essence,  or  psyche,  is  indebted  to  its 
union  with  the  spirit,  or  pneuma,  for  all  its  actual  knowledge* 
both  of  external  nature  and  of  its  own  being,  the  spirit  is  entitled 
to  claim  a  higher  nature  than  that  of  the  soul  essence  to  which 
it  is  joined ;  and  it  must  be  recognized  as  the  true  principle  of 
spiritual  life,  although  not  the  actual  source  of  being. 

"That  the  spiritual  life,  like  the  soul  activity,  has  its  several 
phases  or  stages  of  development,  is  evident  from  the  phenomena 
observable  in  the  mental  life  of  the  child,  of  the  woman,  and  of 
the  man. 

"  The  child,  in  its  ceaseless  inquiries,  shows  the  first  unfolding 
of  the  spiritual  perception :  but  that  perception  being  as  yet  im 
perfect  in  its  operation,  the  child  is  limited  in  its  activity  to  the 
imitation  which  is  the  result  of  simple  thought. 

"  In  the  woman,  we  see  the  activity  of  the  spiritual  principle, 
in  combination  with  that  of  the  soul  essence,  in  an  intuitive  re 
cognition  of  modes  of  action,  without  the  actual  perception  of 
the  qualities  on  which  their  value  depends,  which  is  necessary  to 
the  generalizations  of  reason.  We  see  here  the  activity  of  the 
instinctive  soul,  vivified  by  contact  with  the  spiritual  principle, 
resulting  in  that  almost  intuitive  perception  of  simple  relation, 
the  possession  of  which  by  woman  is  her  peculiar  distinction. 

••  In  max.  on  the  other  hand,  instinct  giving  place  to  reason  as 
the  stimulating  principle  of  action,  the  spiritual  perception  is 
employed  in  supplying  objects  of  thought  for  the  activity  of  the 
mind;  the  final  result  being  the  pure  reasoning,  which  is  the  pe 
culiar  attribute  of  man.  In  genius,  we  have  the  crowning  glory 
of  man's  mental  development;  the  intuitive' operation  .of  the 
emotional  soul  essence  being  so  perfectly  combined  with  the 
keen  perception  of  the  reflective  spirit,  that  reason  itself  becomes 
intuitive,  and  the  mind  operates  by  a  process  of  spiritual  in 
stinct."  .  .  . 

As  to  the  questions  of  moral  responsibility  and  immortality, 


SOULS    OF    THE    LOWER    ANIMALS.  265 

Mr.  Wake  thinks  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  soul  is  the  re 
sponsible,  immortal  portion  of  man's  being.  As  the  emotional, 
thinking,  and  willing  essence,  it  is  the  real  principle  of  being, 
and  that  which  performs,  through  the  physical  organism,  those 
actions  to  which  moral  responsibility  has  relation.  But  the  soul 
is  responsible  for  these  actions  only  because  it  has  a  knowledge 
of  their  nature  as  being  good  or  evil.  This  knowledge  depends, 
however  on  the  activity  of  the  spiritual  perception,  on  which  the 
whole  special  intellectual  development  of  man  is  founded,  and 
of  which  conscience  itself,  the  test  of  responsibility,  is  one  of 
the  fruits. 

As  the  lower  animals  have  not  the  spirit,  or  pneuma,  they  can 
have  no  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  actions  as  being  in  them 
selves  good  or  evil ;  and.  therefore,  they  are  not  responsible  creat 
ures.  The  question  of  brute  immortality  can  receive  a  similar 
solution.  As  the  soul,  or  psyche,  is  the  principle  of  being,  it 
must  be  the  soul  ivkich  is  immortal.  The  lower  animals,  there 
fore,  have  within  themselves  the  principle  of  eternal  existence. 
We  cannot  believe  that  any  substance,  either  material  or  spirit 
ual,  can  be  annihilated ;  and,  therefore,  the  brute  soul,  after 
death,  must  continue  to  exist. 

By  immortality,  however,  is  usually  understood  eternal  exist 
ence  in  a  state  of  separate  identity.  This  state  does  not  depend 
on  the  possession  of  the  soul  essence,  or  psyche,  but  on  that  of 
the  higher  spirit,  or  pneuma,  the  activity  of  which  can  alone  give 
the  self-consciousness  on  which,  apart  from  the  bodily  organism, 
separate  identity  is  itself  dependent.  The  brute  soul,  therefore, 
according  to  Mr.  Wake,  must  exist  eternally,  but  not  in  a  sepa 
rate  state. 

When,  however,  it  is  asked,  i;  In  what  state,  then,  does  the 
animal  soul  exist  after  death?"  the  only  answer  which  can  be 
given  is,  that  it  must  return  to  the  great  source  of  being  from 
which  the  soul  first  had  its  origin.  As  matter  is  one  and  eternal, 
although  its  grosser  forms  are  ever  changing,  so  it  is  with  the 
soul  essence,  whose  phenomenal  forms,  numberless  as  those  of 
matter,  are  equally  changeful,  but  which  in  its  substance  ever 


266  PLANCHETTE. 

continues  one  and  unchangeable.  The  noble  privilege  of  man, 
however,  is  to  be  individualized  as  a  distinct  and  immortal  spir 
itual  existence. 

The  tendency  of  modern  scientific  thought  is  to  correlate  all 
the  phenomena  of  nature  as  the  manifestations  of  one  simple 
energy,  of  which  the  inorganic  and  the  organic  are  but  more  or 
less  complex  phases.  The  professed  advocates  of  the  doctrine 
of  material  development  ultimately  reduce  all  things  to  an  eter 
nally  existing  and  infinitely  extended  matter,  of  which  force  is 
the  phenomenal  activity. 

"  Such  would  appear  to  be  the  conclusion  to  which  the  hypoth 
esis  of  Mr.  Darwin  tends.  Stated  in  the  words  of  Professor 
Huxley,  it  is,  '  Given  the  existence  of  organic  matter,  its  ten 
dency  to  transmit  properties,  and  its  tendency  accordingly  to 
vary;  and,  lastly,  given  the  conditions  of  existence  by  which  or 
ganic  matter  is  surrounded,  —  these  put  together  are  the  causes 
of  the  present  and  the  past  conditions  of  organic  nature.' 

"The  existence  of  matter  in  an  organized  form  is  here  as 
sumed  ;  but  from  Professor  Huxley's  supposition,  that  in  fifty 
years'  time,  science  will  be  able  '  to  produce  the  conditions  requi 
site  to  the  origination  of  life,'  we  are  justified  in  considering 
that  '  organization  '  is  the  accident,  while  the  existence  of  mat 
ter  in  its  simple,  inorganic  form,  is  the  only  fundamental  re 
quirement.  This  is,  moreover,  confirmed  by  the  assertion  of  a 
late  writer,  Mr.  David  Page,  the  most  recent  advocate  of  the 
development  hypothesis,  that  man,  like  the  animal,  springs  from 
inorganic  elements. 

"  If  we  turn  to  the  positive  philosophy,  we  see  that  it  has  the 
same  material  basis.  Mr.  Lewes,  while  affirming  that  there  is 
no  real  distinction  between  vital  and  psychical  phenomena,  the 
latter  being  themselves  vital,  defines  vitality  as  '  the  abstract 
designation  of  certain  special  properties  manifested  by  matter 
under  certain  special  conditions.'  We  have  here  the  same  funda 
mental  idea  as  that  on  which  the  hypothesis  of  Mr.  Darwin  re 
poses.  Mr.  Lewes  adds,  '  Life  is  known  only  in  dependence  on 
substance  :  its  activity  is  accelerated  or  retarded  according  to  the 


NON-PERCEPTIBILITY    OF    SPIRIT.  267 

conuitions  in  which  the  elemental  changes  of  the  substance  are 
facilitated  or  impeded ;  and  it  vanishes  with  the  disintegration  of 
the  substance.' " 

This  is  the  necessary  conclusion  of  materialism. 

It  is  apparent  that  if  this  conclusion  were  established,  it  would 
furnish  an  insuperable  objection  to  the  spiritual  theory  as  to 
man's  nature,  enforced  by  Mr.  Wake.  He,  therefore,  proceeds  to 
examine  the  grounds  on  which  the  materialistic  argument  is 
based.  No  objection,  he  contends,  can  be  made  to  the  existence 
of  spirit  on  the  ground  that  it  is  not  capable  of  direct  proof. 
"  Positive  science  allows  the  existence  of  matter  in  so  attenuated 
a  condition,  that  it  can  be  known  only  by  the  effects  of  its  mo 
tion,  and  on  the  'disintegration  of  the  substance  '  which  attends 
the  destruction  of  life :  the  substance  itself  still  remains,  al 
though  it  may  take  a  form  which  cannot  be  recognized.  The 
mere  '  non-perceptibility '  of  spirit  is,  therefore,  no  proof  of  its 
non-existence.  But,  further,  supposing  the  animal  organism 
possesses  such  a  principle  of  being  as  this,  its  real  life  may  con-* 
tinue,  notwithstanding  the  disintegration  of  the  bodily  sub 
stance,  without  its  existence  being  perceived.  It  is  extremely 
probable  that  the  ether  can  be  rendered  knowable  to  us,  under 
the  conditions  of  the  present  life,  only  by  virtue  of  its  action  on 
the  matter  of  the  earth's  atmosphere;  and  if,  therefore,  this  me 
dium  were  removed,  there  would  be  no  possibility  of  our  guess 
ing  its  existence.  In  like  manner,  the  disintegration  of  the 
bodily  organism  may  destroy  the  only  means  by  which  the  prin 
ciple  of  animal  life  can  reveal  itself  to  us  in  our  present  state, 
except,  it  may  be,  under  certain  special  conditions. 

"Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  there  is  no  primd  facie  objec 
tion  to  the  spiritual  view  of  life,  the  advocates  of  the  material 
hypothesis  may  still  assert  that  materialism  is  quite  sufficient  to 
account  for  all  the  phenomena  of  organic  matter,  without  call 
ing  in  the  agency  of  any  special  principle  of  being. 

"  When,  however,  we  ask  what  beyond  the  mere  fact  of  com 
plexity,  which  itself  requires  explanation,  determines  the  pas 
sage  of  matter  from  the  inorganic  to  the  vegetable,  and  from 


268  PLANCHETTE. 

thence  to  the  animal  form  of  organization,  the  positive  philoso 
phy  is  silent.  It  does,  indeed,  declare  that  there  is  no  *  essential 
distinction  between  organic  and  inorganic  matter,'  nor  yet  '  any 
essential  (noumenal)  separation'  between  life  and  mind;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  it  admits  that  it  has  no  other  object  of  inquiry 
than  that  of  laws.  Treating  solely  of  the  la-ws  of  phenomena, 
it  does  not  concern  itself  with  their  cause;  and,  so  far,  there 
fore,  as  positivism  is  concerned,  any  of  those  phenomena  may 
be  due  to  the  activity  of  an  immaterial  principle,  the  presence 
of  which  may  be  the  cause  of  the  complexity  of  structure  that 
furnishes  the  special  conditions  necessary  for  such  phenomena, 
and  which  can  perhaps  reveal  itself  only  through  matter." 

The  Darwinian  hypothesis  requires  consideration,  according 
to  Mr.  Wake,  only  so  far  as  it  affects  to  derive  man,  equally  with 
both  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  from  a  common  and 
single  progenitor.  As  to  the  former,  Professor  Huxley  says, 
"There  cannot  be  the  slightest  doubt  in  the  world  that  the  argu 
ment  which  applies  to  the  improvement  of  the  horse  from  an 
earlier  stock,  or  of  ape  from  ape,  applies  to  the  improvement  of 
man  from  some  simpler  and  lower  stock  than  man." 

The  same  argument  may  be  used  to  explain  the  origin  of  the 
animal  from  the  vegetable  organism.  On  examination,  how 
ever,  we  find  that  the  conclusion  cannot  be  sustained.  When  it 
is  said  that  "the  structural  differences  which  separate  man  from 
the  apes  are  not  greater  than  those  which  separate  some  apes 
from  others,"  we  have,  independently  of  the  fact  that  there  is  no 
evidence  of  the  past  or  present  existence  of  any  such  links 
between  man  and  the  ape,  as  there  are  between  ape  and  ape,  a 
statement  which  is  not  correct.  This  may,  indeed,  be  proved 
by  Professor  Huxley's  own  admission.  He  is  constrained  to 
admit  "the  width  of  the  gulf  in  intellectual  and  moral  matters 
which  lies  between  man  and  the  whole  of  the  lower  creation," 
although  he  explains  it  as  the  result  of  "variation  in  function" 
rather  than  of  variation  in  structure. 

According  to  Professor  Huxley,  it  is  language  which  "  consti 
tutes  and  makes  man  what  he  is ;  "  and  this  language  depends 


THE    DARWINIAN    HYPOTHESIS.  269 

on  "  the  equality  of  action  "  of  the  two  nerves  which  supply  the 
muscles  of  the  glottis;  a  change  in  the  structure  of  which, 
although  imperceptible,  might  have  a  result  which  would  be 
"practically  infinite." 

"But  how  can  a  change  of  structure,  which  has  so  marvellous 
a  consequence  be  a  slight  one?  The  fact  is,  that  its  insignifi 
cance  is  merely  apparent ;  for  it  is  associated  with  a  general 
superiority  and  refinement  of  nervous  structure  and  sensibility, 
which  give  a  higher  form  and  tone  to  the  human  organization, 
being  the  conditions  on  which  the  special  action  of  the  nerves 
connected  with  the  muscles  of  the  glottis  altogether  depends. 

"  It  is,  however,  a  fundamental  error  to  ascribe  man's  supe 
riority  over  the  animal  world  to  'language.'  The  faculty  of 
speech  is  a  most  important  instrument  for  the  education  of  man's 
mental  faculties  ;  but  it  is  merely  an  instrument,  and  one  without 
which  man  would  still  be  vastly  superior  to  the  creatures  below 
him.  How  strange  that  man's  civilization  —  and  may  we  not 
add,  his  responsibility  and  immortality?  —  depend  wholly  on 
•  the  equality  of  action  of  the  two  nerves  which  supply  the  mus 
cles  of  the  glottis ' !  Surely,  the  talking  parrot  must  also  have 
a  capacity  for  civilization  ! 

"  The  Darwinian  hypothesis,  which  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer 
accepts  as  reducible  to  the  'general  doctrine  of  evolution,'  gives 
no  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  primitive  cell ; 
and  thus  leaves  unsolved  the  chief  problem  presented  by  organic 
nature  in  its  several  phases. 

"No  ground  is  assignable,  consistent  with  the  hypothesis  of 
evolution,  why  the  only  wide  gap  in  the  series  should  be  between 
the  highest  ape  and  man.  The  only  explanation  which  can  be 
given  by  those  of  its  advocates  who  admit  the  possession  by  man 
of  '  special  endowments  '  —  '  that  nature  can  produce  a  new  type 
without  our  being  able  to  see  the  marks  of  transition'  —  is  in 
reality  fatal  to  the  hypothesis  itself,  seeing  that  the  exercise  of 
such  a  power  bespeaks  the  operation  in  nature  of  some  fresh 
principle  of  vitality. 

"  But,  secondly,  it  is  evident  that  the  minute  modifications  of 


270  PI.ANCHETTE. 

function  and  structure,  supposed,  cannot  result  in  the  formation 
of  something  fundamentally  different  from  that  which  has  been 
thus  modified.  It  has  been  shown,  that  it  is  not  the  possession 
of  speech  which  constitutes  man's  superiority  over  the  animal 
world,  but  the  faculty  of  spiritual  perception  ;  the  exercise  of 
which  underlies  both  human  language  and  every  other  phase 
of  culture  by  which  man  is  distinguished.  This  is  a  power 
wholly  dissimilar  from  any  the  animal  world  possesses;  and 
no  modification,  therefore,  of  the  animal  organization  could 
evolve  it. 

"Reference  to  'a  plan  of  ascensive  development'  will  not 
meet  the  difficulty  when  '  new  and  special  endowments '  are 
admitted;  for,  according  to  the  principle  laid  down  by  Herbert 
Spencer,  that  '  function  is  antecedent  to  structure,'  those  endow 
ments  can  exist  only  in  response  to  a  preceding  functional  ten 
dency.  This  principle,  moreover,  directly  contradicts  the 
reasoning  of  Professor  Huxley,  that  a  functional  difference 
which  is  '  vastly  unfathomable,  and  truly  infinite  in  its  conse 
quences,'  has  arisen  from  a  small  structural  change.  The  modi 
fication  of  the  organism  must  have  been  preceded  by  that  of  the 
function ;  and  as  the  latter  is  itself  dependent  on  something 
which  the  lower  animals  do  not  possess,  it  is  absolutely  impossi 
ble  that  either  the  function  or  the  structural  differences  which  it 
precedes  can  have  been  evolved  simply  out  of  an  animal  organi 
zation.  .  .  . 

"There  must  be  an  antecedent  functional  tendency,  or  there 
can  be  no  formation  of  organic  material,  much  less  of  a  spe 
cialized  organism.  The  very  fact  of  the  existence  of  organisms, 
so  different  in  their  vital  phenomena,  as  the  animal  and  the 
plant,  both  of  which  are  made  up  of  the  same  chemical  ele 
ments,  proves  the  existence  of  two  different  fundamental  tenden 
cies,  which  cannot  be  explained  by  any  peculiarity  of  combination 
of  those  elements,  since  the  function  is  antecedent  to  all  such 
combination,  and  directive  of  the  form  it  shall  take.  Suppos 
ing,  then,  specific  organized  forms  are  accompanied  by  peculiar 
arrangement  of  their  chemical  elements,  which  take  the  form 


MR.  WAKE'S  ARGUMENT.  271 

of  '  physiological  units,'  the  tendency  of  the  primitive  organic 
matter,  to  take  this  arrangement,  has  to  be  accounted  for;  and 
it  can  be  only  by  its  dependence  on  some  still  more  ultimate 
fact. 

This  ultimate  fact  Mr.  Wake  finds  in  spirit,  deity.  The  phe 
nomena  of  life  in  man  are  quite  distinct  from  those  of  either 
organic  or  mere  animal  vitality;  and,  although  intimately  re 
lated  to,  and,  it  may  be,  necessarily  connected  with  them,  the 
union  is  one  of  actual  addition,  as  by  superposition  of  a  per 
fectly  fresh  and  independent  faculty. 

"The  universe  maybe  described  as  an  infinitely  extended  and 
eternally  existing  organism.  The  possession,  however,  by  man 
of  the  principles  of  animal  and  spiritual  life  requires  the  prior 
existence  of  something  analogous  in  nature  to  them  from  •which 
these  principles  can  have  been  derived.  There  must,  in  fact, 
according  to  the  reasoning  of  the  materialistic  argument,  be  an 
eternally  existing  principle  of  being,  from  which  the  soul  of  the 
animal  organism  can  have  had  its  origin ;  and  thus  must  it  be 
to  enable  us  to  account  for  the  existence  of  the  higher  spiritual 
principle  which  we  see  in  man. 

"  But,  as  in  phenomenal  nature,  we  see  the  three  discrete  de 
grees  of  life  co-existing  in  a  certain  relation,  —  the  lower  being 
essential  to  the  existence  of  the  higher,  and  the  higher  again 
giving  a  new  direction  to  the  activity  of  the  lower,  —  we  are 
justified  in  affirming  that  a  similar  relation  exists  between  the 
several  co-existing,  eternal  principles  of  being  which  thus 
reveal  themselves.  These  three  degrees  of  Absolute  Life  can 
not  be  independent  of  each  other;  and,  therefore,  that  Eternal 
and  Infinite  Existence  from  which  all  phenomenal  nature  has 
been  evolved,  must,  although  manifesting  his  activity  through 
a  material  organism,  yet  be  essentially  a  spiritual  being,  as 
possessing,  not  only  the  principle  of  animal  vitality,  but  also 
that  of  the  spiritual  life. 

"As,  however,  nature  is  an  evolution  from  the  Divine  Organ 
ism, —  man  being  the  final  result  of  such  evolution, — we  must 
see  in  man  and  nature  a  representation  of  God ;  who,  therefore, 


272  PLANCHETTE. 

is  not  the  Unknowable  Existence  which  the  hypothesis  of  evolu 
tion,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  requires.  God  cannot 
be  unlike  that  which  has  sprung  from  himself,  — except  only  so 
far  as  he  is  infinite  and  perfect,  while  it  is  finite,  and,  as  such, 
imperfect.  -*• 

"  Moreover,  knowing  man  and  nature,  we  have  a  concep 
tion —  incomplete,  because  limited  —  of  God  himself;  and  this 
conception  must  widen,  and  therefore  become  more  nearly  per 
fect  with  every  increase  of  our  knowledge.  Hand-in-hand, 
therefore,  with  the  development  of  science,  there  should  be  an 
ever-increasing  veneration  for  that  Being,  the  laws  of  whose 
relative  existence  science  expresses." 

And  here,  according  to  the  system  of  Mr.  Wake,  we  have  the 
only  ground  for  reconciliation  between  science  and  religion. 

The  argument  which  we  have  thus  presented,  in  an  abridged 
form,  is  worthy  the  reader's  study ;  and  it  will,  we  hope,  call 
attention  to  the  book  itself,  where  some  omitted  links  will  be 
found  supplied. 

As  a  fitting  termination  to  our  review  of  the  principal  theories 
which  the  phenomena  have  called  forth,  we  quote  from  the  Lon 
don  "  Morning-Star  and  Dial  "  the  following  remarks  :  — 

"The  egotism  which  sets  up  its  own  finite  comprehension  as 
the  test  of  possibility,  rejects  with  scorn  every  thing  alien  to  its 
experience,  or  antagonistic  to  its  preconceived  ideas.  It  can 
scarcely  be  necessary  to  urge,  that  such  a  mode  of  dealing  with 
alleged  facts  is  not  only  grossly  unphilosophical,  but  would,  if 
generally  adopted,  prove  a  positive  barrier  to  the  elucidation  of 
important  truths. 

"  When  a  very  large  number  of  independent  and  respectable 
witnesses  testify  that  they  have  repeatedly  seen  phenomena  won 
derful  in  their  character,  identical  in  their  nature,  and  occurring 
always  under  certain  fixed  conditions,  it  is  obviously  our  duty  to 
sift  their  evidence,  in  order  that  we  may  either  crush  an  impos 
ture,  dispel  a  delusion,  or  establish  a  new  and,  possibly,  most 
important  truth. 

"This  is  the  position  which  the  controversy  with  regard  to 


THE    CONTROVERSY    STATED.  273 

Spiritualism  has  unquestionably  assumed.  In  England  and  in 
America  thousands  of  men  and  women  esteemed  for  their  piety, 
their  intellectual  ability,  and  their  social  worth,  aver  that  they 
have  been  eye-witnesses,  not  once,  but  repeatedly,  of  very  strange 
manifestations,  which  can  scarcely  be  accounted  for  by  the  oper 
ation  of  any  known  natural  agency. 

"They  tell  us  that  they  have  seen  heavy  tables  lifted  up  a  foot 
or  more  from  the  ground,  and  held  for  some  moments  suspended 
in  the  air;  men  raised  from  their  chairs  and  floated  across  the 
ceiling  of  the  apartment;  accordions  and  guitars,  held  in  the 
hand,  played  upon  by  unseen  fingers;  bells  carried  about  a  room 
and  rung  at  intervals  by  an  invisible  power,  and  passed  from  hand 
to  hand  of  the  quiescent  circle;  intelligible  sentences  written 
upon  slates  and  slips  of  paper  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  any 
present;  luminous  hands  appearing  in  the  air,  lifting  articles 
from  the  floor  and  placing  them  upon  the  table;  and  a  host  of 
other  marvels,  to  all  appearances  equally  beyond  the  grasp  of 
ordinary  ci'edibility. 

"  Mr.  Coleman,  a  gentleman  whose  word  would  be  unhesitat 
ingly  taken  on  any  ordinary  matter,  tells  us  of  a  drawing  me 
dium,  who  has  the  power  of  sketching  perfect  portraits  of  de 
ceased  persons  whom  he  never  saw,  and  with  regard  to  whose 
personal  appearances  he  had  no  means  of  forming  any  idea. 
He  relates  his  visit  to  another  medium,  to  whom  he  was  person 
ally  unknown,  who,  in  answer  to  his  mental  question,  wrote  a 
communication  to  him  from  his  step-son,  sometime  deceased, 
signing  it  with  the  young  man's  full  name,  and  adding  his  own 
residence  in  London;  and  he  states  that  he  listened  to  some 
speaking  mediums,  persons  in  their  ordinary  state  wholly  illiter 
ate,  who,  under  what  was  asserted  to  be  spiritual  influence, 
spoke  in  public  for  more  than  an  hour  at  a  time,  with  very  re 
markable  eloquence  and  intellectual  power.  He  recounts  an 
instance,  which  he  declares  was  certified  to  him  on  excellent  au 
thority,  in  which  a  communication  was  received  through  a  me 
dium,  leading  to  the  discovery  of  a  lost  document  essential  to 
the  success  of  an  important  lawsuit;  and  he  recites  an  example 

18 


274 


PLANCHETTE. 


of  an  opinion  obtained  by  the  same  means,  which  brought  to 
light  a  new  point,  and  put  a  stop  to  a  harassing  litigation. 

••  But.  putting  aside  ail  that  he  gives  on  the  authority  of  others, 
his  narrative  of  his  own  personal  experience  is  strange  enough 
to  satiate  the  most  ravenous  appetite  for  the  marvellous.  Atone 
seance*  for  example,  at  Boston,  he  states  that  a  guitar  was  car 
ried  rapidly  about  the  room  above  the  heads  of  those  present,  a 
melodv  being  accurately  played  upon  it  as  it  moved  through  the 
air:  that  bells  were  similarly  floated  about,  ringing  all  the 
while;  that  the  medium,  in  her  arm-chair,  was  lifted  on  to  the 
centre  of  the  table,  from  which  position  he  himself  removed  her; 
that  his  own  name  was  pronounced  in  a  loud  voice  through  a 
horn :  and  that,  when  he  complained  of  the  heat  of  the  room,  a 
fan  was  taken  from  a  drawer  and  waved  before  him.  and  a  tum 
bler  of  water  was  raised  and  placed  to  his  lips.* 

'•All  this,  no  doubt,  is  passing  strange;  and  those  who  have 
never  with  their  own  eyes  seen  any  thing  of  the  sort,  may  be 
well  excused  for  shaking  their  heads  in  doubt.  It  is  true  that 
the  striking  singularity  of  some  of  the  phenomena  reported  in 
duces  us  sometimes  to  forget  that,  if  we  concede  the  possibility 
of  one  of  them,  we  may  without  much  difficulty  admit  that  of 
all.  Grant  that  a  power  exists  which  can  raise  a  heavy  table 
from  the  ground  and  hold  it  suspended  in  the  air,  it  is  clear  that 
the  same  agency  may  just  as  easily  lift  a  man  from  his  chair, 
carrv  a  bell,  wave  a  fan,  or  play  upon  a  guitar.  The  simple  rap 
ping  upon  the  table,  if  not  fraudulently  produced,  is  intrinsi 
cally,  though  not  apparently,  quite  as  marvellous  as  any  of  the 
most  elaborate  manifestations. 

"But  these  physical  effects  are  by  far  the  least  interesting  of 
those  which  the  Spiritualists  allege  to  be  of  e very-day  occur 
rence  in  their  circles.  They  complain,  indeed,  that  the  use  of 
the  phrases.  'Spirit-Rapping.'  and  'Table-Turning.'  has  tended 
to  give  the  general  public  a  very  low  and  inadequate  idea  of 

*  These  phenomena  occurred  at  one  of  the  sittings  at  which  Miss  Lord  was  the  me 
dium,  and  to  which  we  introduced  Mr  Coleman,  with  whom  we  were  present. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  VOUCHERS.         275 

the  scope  and  object  of  this  class  of  phenomena.  According 
to  their  doctrine,  these  strange  freaks  which  are  played  with  ma 
terial  objects,  are  designed  solely  to  arrest  attention,  and  to  con 
vince  the  skeptical  that  unseen  agencies  are  present,  capable  of 
holding  communion  with  mortals :  and  that/  this  end  having 
been  attained,  the  real  purpose  of  that  which  they  regard  as  a 
beneficent  dispensation,  acquires  its  needful  scope  and  comes 
into  full  play.  This  purpose  they  hold  to  be  the  communication 
from  departed  beings  to  their  surviving  relatives,  of  messages 
of  solace,  of  warning,  of  encouragement,  and  of  counsel,  — con- 
veved  occasionallv  bv  audible  voices,  but  much  more  frequently 
in  an  alphabetic  form. 

"They  believe  that  the  ultimate  end  of  these  *  Spiritual  Mani 
festations  '  is  the  advancement  towards  moral  and  religious  per 
fection  of  the  living  through  the  loving  ministrations  of  the 
dead:  the  proximate  end  being  the  counteraction  of  material 
istic  tendencies  by  the  exhibition  of  cogent  proofs  of  the  reality 
of  spiritual  existence. 

"  If  the  extraordinary  narratives  were  vouched  for  only  by 
men  utterly  unknown,  or  of  dubious  credibility,  they  might 
scarcely  be  deemed  worthy  of  serious  attention.  Even  then  we 
could  scarcely  avoid  the  reflection  that  the  idea  which  consti 
tutes  the  postulate  of  the  Spiritualists,  so  far  from  being  novel, 
has  had  adherents  in  every  age  and  every  nation.  The  belief  in 
the  possibility  of  intercourse  betweeen  spirits  and  mortals  has 
found  a  place  in  almost  everv  religious  creed  ever  held  bv  man; 
and  pagan  traditions  and  biblical  records  alike  bear  witness  to 
supernatural  communion.  Nor  can  we  entirely  exclude  the 
thought  that  these  phenomena,  if  sufficiently  attested  to  be  ac 
cepted  as  real,  would  cast  much  light  on  many  incidents  in  past 
secular  history,  which  stand  greatly  in  need  of  some  rational 
elucidation,  in  place  of  the  wholesale  rejection  of  a  mass  of  evi 
dence  which  has  hitherto  been  our  desperate  expedient.  But  are 
they  so  attested?  This  is  the  first  point  to  be  settled.  The  prin 
cipal  witnesses  are  literary  men  of  note,  merchants,  lawyers, 
physicians,  and  divines;  ministers  of  divers  sects,  men  and  wo- 


276  PLANCHETTE. 

men  of  unblemished  repute,  artists,  poets,  and  statesmen.  Of 
minor  witnesses,  the  name  is  legion ;  but  we  have  no  personal 
knowledge  of  their  claims  to  our  belief.  This  much  we  know, 
that  in  America,  and  in  our  own  country,  there  are  many  whose 
sanity  no  one  doubts,  whose  general  veracity  no  one  would  im 
peach,  who  aver  that  they  have  seen  these  strange  things  with 
their  own  eyes.  It  remains  for  us  to  say  whether  we  will  take 
their  word. 

4 '  If  we  stamp  all  those  who  declare  that  they  have  witnessed 
these  so-called  '  Spiritual  Manifestations,'  as  liars,  of  course  the 
inquiry  will  be  at  an  end.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  will 
ing  to  believe  that,  in  the  narratives  which  they  have  given  us, 
they  have  honestly  recorded  the  impressions  produced  upon  their 
eyes  and  ears,  we  shall  next  have  to  consider  to  what  causes 
these  phenomena  may  fairly  be  ascribed.  Four  hypotheses  have 
been  put  forward  :  fraud,  °elf-delusion,  the  operation  of  some 
hitherto  undiscovered  natural  law,  and  spiritual  agency.  The 
idea  of  fraud,  as  a  general  explanation  of  the  manifestations, 
may,  we  think,  be  fairly  discarded.  Imposture  there  may  have 
bee'n  in  cases  where  money  was  to  be  gained;  but  seeing  that 
many  of  the  most  striking  manifestations  testified  to,  took  place 
in  private  houses,  where  no  paid  medium  was  present,  —  this 
being  especially  true  of  the  intellectual  communications  purport 
ing  to  come  from  departed  relatives,  —  it  is  difficult  to  believe 
that  those  who  formed  the  circle  could  have  been  fools  enough 
to  practise  a  deliberate  cheat  upon  themselves  for  no  object 
whatever,  to  say  nothing  of  the  blasphemy  against  the  holiest 
affections,  which  was  involved  in  simulating  a  message  from  a 
deceased  parent,  wife,  or  child. 

"  It  is  not  easy  to  understand  what  invisible  mechanism  would 
take  a  man  out  of  his  chair,  float  him  round  the  ceiling,  and 
then  replace  him  in  his  seat;  and  that  must  be  a  very  knowing 
apparatus  for  the  production  of  raps  which  would  spell  out  to 
an  unknown  foreigner  the  name  of  his  step-son,  who  had  been 
some  years  in  the  grave.  But  in  purely  private  circles,  —  the 
vast  majority  of  those  which  are  held,  —  fraud  is  clearly  out  of 


VARIOUS    SOLUTIONS.  277 

the  question.  If  self-delusion  be  the  chosen  explanation,  then 
we  ought  to  have  it  explained  how  it  happens  that  the  same  de 
lusion  operates  upon  a  dozen  or  more  persons  at  the  same  time. 
If  the  operation  of  an  unknown  natural  law  be  the  solution 
adopted,  it  must  be  one  law  capable  of  producing  all  the  phe 
nomena  recorded  ;  for  they  appear  to  present  themselves  in  very 
indiscriminate  order  at  various  seances. 

"  It  is  a  current,  but  very  grave  error,  to  suppose  that  the  most 
startling  of  these  physical  manifestations  are  opposed  to  known 
natural  laws.  It  is  generally  said,  for  example,  that  the  lifting 
of  a  table  from  the  ground,  —  one  of  the  commonest  of  the  al 
leged  phenomena,  —  is  opposed  to  the  laws  of  gravitation. 
Clearly  it  is  not,  if  an  unseen  force  be  applied  to  it,  powerful 
enough  to  counteract  its  attraction.  An  unseen  force  is  no  nov 
elty  in  nature.  Life  is  unseen,  electricity  is  unseen :  heat  is 
unseen,  until,  by  igniting  matter  it  gives  birth  to  flame.  But 
this  force  must  be  one,  capable  of  accounting  for  all  the  effects. 
It  will  not  do  to  say  that  this  phenomenon  results  from  hys 
teria;  that,  from  magnetism;  the  other,  from  thought-reading; 
a  fourth,  from  the  od  force,  whatever  that  may  be. 

"  If  the  spiritual  theory  be  resorted  to,  a  vital  point  arises.  Is 
it  a  good  or  an  evil  agency?  The  advocates  of  the  Satanic 
theory  have  this  great  stumbling-block  to  get  over,  that  the  ad 
vice  given  in  the  messages  communicated  is  said  to  be  univer 
sally*  good,  the  sentiments  moral,  and  the  doctrine  piously 
Christian ;  and  it  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that  the  Author  of 
Evil  would  labor  for  his  own  discomfiture.  There  may  be  a 
mixture  of  good  and  evil  agencies ;  then  we  ought  to  discover 
how  we  are  to  discriminate  between  the  two.  For  ourselves,  we 
express  no  opinion  on  the  subject;  all  we  wish  is  to  see  the  mat 
ter  fairly  investigated,  with  a  total  absence  of  that  spirit  of  ridi 
cule  which  is  always  offensive  and  proves  nothing,  and  which  is 
in  the  present  case  especially  out  of  place.  With  the  considera- 


*  Not  universally.     We  have  seen  that  we  must  still  try  the  spirits  ;  that  they  are 
as  various  as  mortals  in  their  moral  and  intellectual  traits. 


278  PLANCH ETTE. 

tion  of  '  Cut  bono'  we  have  nothing  whatever  to  do.  The  first 
question  to  be  solved  is,  'Is  it  true,  or  is  it  not?'  The  second, 
'  Whence  is  it  ?  '  If  the  first  be  answered  in  the  affirmative,  then, 
even  should  the  second  remain  without  reply,  we  may  tranquilly 
leave  the  rest  to  the  good  providence  of  God." 

"  Alas  for  him  who  never  sees 
The  stars  shine  through  his  cypress  trees  t 
Who,  hopeless,  lays  his  dead  away, 
Nor  looks  to  see  the  breaking  day 
Across  the  mournful  marbles  play ; 
Who  hath  not  learned,  in  hours  of  faith, 
The  truth  to  flesh  and  sense  unknown, 
That  life  is  ever  lord  of  death, 
And  love  can  never  lose  its  own  I " 


CHAPTER   XI. 

COMMON    OBJECTIONS. -TEACHINGS    OF    SPIRITUALISM. 

"  I  live  ;  and  this  living,  conscious  being  which  I  am  to-day,  is  a  greater  wonder  to 
me  than  it  is  that  I  should  go  on  and  on.  How  I  came  to  be  astonishes  me  far  more 
than  how  I  should  continue  to  be."  —  Rev.  Orville  Dewey. 

"  I  confess  the  awful  mystery  of  life,  and  the  perplexity  which  hangs  around  the  ques 
tion,  What  it  is.  and  what  it  all  means.  Nevertheless,  I  am  persuaded  —  as  per 
suaded  as  I  can  be  of  any  thing  in  this  world  —  that  the  meaning  is  good  and  not 
evil, — good,  I  trust,  to  the  individual  as  well  as  to  the  whole.  There  is  a  wondrous 
alchemy  in  time  and  the  power  of  God  to  transmute  our  faults,  errors,  sorrows  —  nay, 
our  sins  themselves — into  golden  blessings."  —  Rev.  F.  ]V.  Robertson. 

TF  we  accept  the  fact  that  physical  death  does  not  affect  the 
-^  identity  of  the  individual,  it  will  be  a  necessary  inference 
that  there  are  as  many  intellectual  and  moral  differen'ces  among 
spirits  as  among  mortal  men.  In  the  spirit-world  as  well  as  in 
this,  at  each  step  of  our  progress,  we  can  only  take  in  the 
amount  of  truth  we  are  organically  fitted  to  receive  and  assimi 
late.  There,  as  well  as  here,  the  saying  of  Locke  holds  good  : 
"  So  much  only  as  we  ourselves  consider  and  comprehend  of 
truth,  so  much  only  do  we  possess  of  real  and  true  knowl 
edge.  The  floating  of  other  men's  opinions  in  our  brains 
makes  us  not  one  jot  the  more  knowing,  though  they  happen  to 
be  true.  Like  fairy  money,  they  turn  to  dust  when  they  come 
to  be  used." 

Our  emancipation  from  this  material  husk  does  not  alter 
those  essentials  of  character  which  we  have  been  born  to  here, 
or  which  we  have  failed  to  modify  in  the  series  of  existences 
through  which  we.  may  have  passed.  Tfce  moulding  of  our 


28O  PLANCHETTE. 

individuality  must  be  our  own  work,  mysterious  as  this  may 
seem. 

Beyond  the  mere  fact,  therefore,  that  spirits  live  and  act  (and 
what  greater  fact  could  we  ask?),  the  teachings  of  spirits  are 
to  be  received  just  as  we  receive  those  of  fallible  mortals,  and 
to  be  subjected  to  the  test  of  our  own  spiritual  and  rational 
powers.  Pressed  on  by  influences  from  all  sides,  we  are  yet  to 
accept  or  reject  them,  according  to  the  light  which  conscience 
may  shed. 

In  regard  to  the  vulgar  notion  that  a  spirit,  on  quitting  his 
mundane  tenement  of  flesh,  parts  with  his  identity,  and  attains 
at  once  to  high  spiritual  knowledge  and  power,  M.  Jobard,  of 
Brussels,  remarks,  "As  well  might  a  highway  robber  be  looked 
upon  as  an  honest  man  as  soon  as  he  is  out  of  prison ;  or  a 
madman,  after  clearing  the  walls  of  an  asylum,  be  regarded  as 
a  sage !  There  is  as  much  difference  between  spirits  as  between 
men.  Every  one  takes  with  him  into  the  next  state  of  life  his 
character  and  his  moral  and  scientific  acquirements.  Fools 
here  are  fools  there.  Rogues,  sensualists,  tyrants,  suffer  from 
being  deprived  of  their  selfish  stimuli.  Hence  we  are  instructed 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  hold  in  low  esteem  those  goods  of  earth, 
which  we  cannot  assimilate  to  ourselves,  nor  take  with  us;  but 
to  attend  rather  to  spiritual  and  moral  goods,  which  do  follow 
us,  and  which  will  serve  eternally  not  only  to  delightfully 
occupy  us,  but  as  steps  by  which  we  shall  rise  higher  and 
higher,  on  the  great  Jacob's  ladder,  into  the  boundless  hierarchy 
of  spirits." 

It  has  been  truly  said,  that  the  tendency  of  Spiritualism  is  to 
lift  the  phenomena  of  spiritual  life  out  of  the  category  of  excep 
tional  events  into  the  region  of  divine  law  and  order;  and  thus 
to  promote  our  spiritual  emancipation  and  development.  By 
the  light  of  this  infant,  or  rather  adolescent  science,  we  now  see 
clearly,  that  the  truth  of  a  doctrine  cannot  be  proved  by  a  so- 
called  miracle.  The  meaning  and  worth  of  "  a  miracle  "  —  i.e.  the 
intervention  of  some  intelligent,  unseen  agency  —  must  rather 
be  tested  by  the  effect  which  it  is  calculated  to  produce  upon  the 


CAUSES    OF   OPPOSITION.  28 1 

mind  and  heart;  and  this  again  can  only  be  estimated  by  the 
devout  and  cultivated  reason.  The  study  of  spiritual  phe 
nomena  thus  elevates  the  mind  above  a  servile  submission 
to  mere  dogmatic  authority  as  well  as  above  an  ignorant  resig 
nation  of  its  rights  and  faculties  before  a  mere  "  sign  and 
wonder." 

"This  emancipating  tendency  of  the  new  science,"  says  an 
English  writer,  "  is  quite  sufficient  to  account  for  the  opposition 
it  has  encountered  at  the  hands  of  the  religious  world ;  while 
the  innovating  and  revolutionary  character  of  spiritual  teach 
ing  induces  a  large  section  of  the  irreligiotis  world  to  regard  it 
with  distrust  and  uneasiness.  The  weak  and  timid,  and  there 
fore  false  and  unjust,  conservatism  of  aristocratic  England 
dreads  each  breath  of  free  thought  which  tends  to  quicken  the 
seeds  of  regeneration  sleeping  within  her  bosom.  It  makes 
many  people  uncomfortable  to  see  old  landmarks  in  religion, 
morals,  or  metaphysics  threatened  with  annihilation.  They 
regard  the  whole  matter,  much  as  the  respectable  country 
gentlemen  in  England  fifty  years  ago  regarded  Methodism.  If 
a  man  turned  Methodist,  it  was  equivalent  to  his  becoming  a 
radical,  a  blasphemer  of  social  decorums  and  time-honored 
conventionalities.  The  case  is  much  the  same  to-day;  and, 
with  a  true  instinct  of  self-preservation,  the  man  of  mere  mate 
rial,  selfish  aims,  and  hebdomadal  religion,  if  he  has  any  at  all, 
recognizes  in  Spiritualism  a  disturber  of  his  peace.  This  impor 
tunate  proximity  of  unseen  realities  calls  for  a  re-adjustment  of 
his  stagnant  ideas  ;  and  it  makes  him  tremble  for  the  safety  of  the 
'  reserved  seat,'  to  which  he  looked  forward  in  the  other  world, 
and  also  of  his  reputation  as  an  intellectual  aristocrat  in  this. 

"  Such  a  fear  is  by  no  means  a  groundless  one ;  for  who  can 
measure  the  influence  which  this  despised  Spiritualism  is  exer 
cising  on  a  score  of  worn-out  ologies  and  isms  ?  Its  negative 
effects  are  those  most  obvious  at  present.  It  is  a  great  truth, 
which  has  not  yet  woven  a  dress  for  itself,  or  elaborated  appro 
priate  organizations  as  outward  and  visible  signs  of  its  inward 
and  spiritual  grace.  It  wanders  about  in  rags  and  tatters,  and 


282  PLANCHETTE. 

often  in  most  disreputable  company;  so  that  some  moral  courage 
is  required  even  to  acknowledge  acquaintance,  much  more  to  asso 
ciate  ivith  this  truth,  in  the  public  roads  of  life. 

"  We  confess  that  we  perfectly  understand  the  aversion  with 
which  many  earnest  minds  have  been  led  to  regard  this  subject. 
'  So  far,'  it  is  said,  '  from  these  investigations  having  an  elevat 
ing  or  emancipating  effect  upon  the  mind,  so-called  spiritual 
manifestations  generally  appeal  to  the  lowest  mental  faculties, 
while  pandering  to  idle  curiosity  and  a  thirst  for  sensational 
exhibitions.'  There  is  much  truth  in  this.  And  it  is  not  enough 
to  make  the  specious  and  oft-repeated  reply  to  such  taunts,  that 
an  evil  and  adulterous,  or  sense-bound  generation  needs  a  sign  ; 
and  that  the  fittest  for  them  are  dancing-tables,  knot-tying,  and 
volant  trumpets  in  dark  closets,  &c.  A  cultivated  mind  CANNOT 
look  upon  such  things  except  as  most  disorderly  and  undivine; 
although  they  may  have  a  spiritual  origin,  and,  having  such,  are 
worthy  the  close  examination  of  all  who  would  acquaint  them 
selves  with  the  grounds  of  a  spiritual  belief. 

"The  higher  manifestations  of  modern  Spiritualism  are  not 
so  obnoxious  to  contemptuous  criticism.  .  .  .  But  these  and  a 
hundred  other  objections,  whether  valid  or  not,  do  not  disprove 
the  fact,  that  Spiritualism  is  exercising  a  most  beneficial  influ 
ence  on  civilization,  by  leading  to  the  discovery  or  illustration 
of  spiritual  laws.  Even  supposing  all  these  various  manifesta 
tions  to  be  disorderly  and  vicious,  -which  I  do  not  for  a  moment 
believe,  their  illustrative  value  would  be  none  the  less.  How 
much  would  the  world  know  of  physiology  or  the  laws  of  health, 
if  disease  had  not  first  necessitated  the  study  of  pathology?" 

The  motto  on  the  cover  of  that  excellent  publication,  the 
"London  Spiritual  Magazine,"  fairly  expresses  all  that  can  be 
consistently  claimed  as  comprehended  by  modern  Spiritualism 
For  individual  idiosyncrasies  and  speculations*  whether  of 
spirits  or  of  earthly  residents,  Spiritualism  is  no  further  respon 
sible  than  collective  humanity  is  responsible  for  the  vagaries  of 
a  drunken  man  or  a  lunatic.  The  following  is  the  motto  re 
ferred  to  :  — 


SPIRITUALISM    A    SCIENCE.  283 

"  Spiritualism  is  based  on  the  cardinal  fact  of  spirit  com 
munion  and  influx  :  it  is  the  effort  to  discover  all  truth  relating 
to  man's  spiritual  nature,  capacities,  relations,  duties,  welfare, 
and  destiny;  and  its  application  to  a  regenerate  life.  It  recog 
nizes  a  continuous  divine  inspiration  in  man  :  it  aims  through  a 
careful,  reverent  study  of  facts,  at  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  and 
principles  which  govern  the  occult  forces  of  the  universe ;  of 
the  relations  of  spirit  to  matter,  and  of  man  to  God  and  the 
spiritual  world.  It  is  thus  catholic  and  progressive,  leading 
to  true  religion  as  at  one  with  the  highest  philosophy." 

Expanding  these  views,  the  same  magazine  remarks  :  "  Spirit 
ualism  is  a  science  based  solely  on  facts  :  it  is  neither  specula 
tive  nor  fanciful.  On  facts  and  facts  alone,  open  to  the  whole 
world  through  an  extensive  and  probably  unlimited  system  of 
mediumship,  it  builds  up  a  substantial  psychology  on  the  ground 
of  strictest  logical  induction.  Its  cardinal  truth,  imperishably 
established  on  the  experiments  and  experiences  of  millions  of 
sane  men  and  women,  of  all  countries  an-d  creeds,  is  that  of  a 
world  of  spirits,  and  the  continuity  of  the  existence  of  indi 
vidual  spirit  through  the  momentary  eclipse  of  death ;  as  it 
disappears  on  earth  re-appearing  in  that  spiritual  world,  and 
becoming  an  inhabitant  amid  the  ever-augmenting  population 
of  the  spiritual  universe.  Along  with  this  primal  truth  comes 
the  confirmation  of  the  ancient  truths  of  Deity,  revelation  from 
Deity  to  man,  and  the  open  communion  of  man  in  the  body 
with  man  disembodied ;  with  '  that  great  multitude  which  no 
man  can  number,  of  all  nations  and  kindreds  and  people  and 
tongues  which  stand  before  the  throne.' 

"That  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  Spiritualism:  it  is  the 
exponent  and  practical  demonstrator  of  continuous  spiritual 
being.  Whatever  truths  independent  of  this  assert  themselves, 
must  do  so  on  the  same  substantial  evidences,  and  must  show 
their  kinship  to  this  grand  central  truth  by  their  perfect  har 
mony  and  oneness  with  it." 

The  general  character  of  the  higher  spiritual  communications 
of  the  present  day  is  the  absence  of  dogmatic  teaching,  and  the 


284  PLANCHETTE. 

assertion  that  it  is  only  as  we  advance  in  virtue  and  in  the 
deeper  paths  of  knowledge  that  we  can  attain  to  further  light 
in  the  science  of  things  divine. 

Whenever  friend  or  foe,  therefore,  undertakes  to  commend  or 
denounce  any  notion,  good  or  bad,  by  the  introductory  claim 
that  "Spiritualism  teaches,"  &c.,  we  may  be  pretty  sure  that 
the  phrase  ought  to  be  so  amended  as  to  read,  "A  certain  spirit 
teaches,"  &c. 

If  you  ask  why  error  and  evil  are  allowed  by  Providence  to 
exist  in  the  spirit-world,  you  might,  with  equal  propriety,  ask 
why  they  are  allowed  to  exist  in  this.  We  cannot  reply  better 
than  in  the  words  of  Wollaston  (1724),  who  says,  "To  ask  why 
God  permits  evil,  is  to  ask  why  he  permits  a  material  world,  or 
such  a  being  as  man  is  ;  endowed,  indeed,  with  some  noble  facul 
ties,  but  incumbered  at  the  same  time  with  bodily  passions  and 
propensities.  Nay :  I  know  not  whether  it  be  not  to  ask  why 
he  permits  any  imperfect  being;  and  that  is,  any  being  at  all: 
which  is  a  bold  demand,  and  the  answer  to  it  lies  perhaps  too 
deep  for  us." 

To  ask  why  evil  exists,  may,  to  higher  intelligences,  be  quite 
as  irrational  as  it  would  be  to  ask  why  a  triangle  has  three 
sides  ? 

These  remarks  will  render  it  superfluous,  we  hope,  for  us  to 
refer  further  to  that  fighting  with  windmills  which  certain 
writers  for  both  the  religious  and  the  secular  press  indulge  in 
when  they  insist  on  charging  any  extravagant  heresy  or  act 
upon  the  "teachings  of  Spiritualism." 

"Spirit  communications,"  says  Mr.  W.  F.  Jamieson,  "par 
take  more  or  less  of  the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  mediums  through 
whom  they  are  received.  On  the  part  of  intelligent  spirits, 
there  is  no  claim  to  infallibility.  They  teach  people  to  accept 
nothing  without  adequate  proof.  Seven-tenths  of  the  alleged 
spiritual  phenomena  may  be  of  mundane  origin,  though  not 
impostures.  But  one  incontrovertible  fact  proves  spirit  existence 
and  communion  as  positively  as  a  million  facts  can  do.  Years 
since  I  witnessed  phenomena  under  circumstances  that  pre- 


REPORT    ON    DARK    CIRCLES.  285 

eluded  imposition  or  trick  of  any  kind.  There  may  be  ten 
thousand  counterfeits,  but  they  do  not  shake  my  confidence  in 
that  which  is  genuine." 

Judge  Carter,  of  Cincinnati,  complains  of  the  deceptive 
character  of  many  of  the  communications.  "I  cannot,"  he 
writes,  "now  point  to  a  single  medium  —  and  I  have  known 
manj'— -  and  say  that  he  or  she  is  perfectly  reliable." 

To  which  we  might  reply,  perfect  reliability  implies  perfect 
infallibility ;  and  the  judge  must  seek  for  that,  not  among  me 
diums,  or  spirits,  or  angels,  or  archangels,  but  of  Omniscience 
alone. 

The  "committee  on  spiritual  phenomena,"  who  met  at  Cleve 
land,  O.,  in  1867,  report  that  "what  at  present  passes  for  spirit 
communion  among  the  people,  is  a  mixed,  and,  for  the  most 
part,  unanalyzed  mass,  rendering  the  identity  of  spirit  presence 
very  uncertain."  And  they  add,  "Many,  if  not  all,  of  the  disor 
derly  manifestations,  your  committee  deem  wholly  unspiritual, 
having  their  origin  in  half-controlled,  diseased  nerves,  poor 
digestion,  torpid  liver,  and  general  discord  of  mind  and  body." 
And  they  conclude,  "We  cannot  suppose  that  a  majority  of  the 
phenomena  under  consideration  are  projected  and  directed  by 
spirits ;  but  rather  that  while  there  is  abundant  evidence,  direct 
and  collateral,  of  spirit  control,  other  causes  enter  largely  into 
their  production." 

All  which  we  can  readily  admit,  and  infer  that  it  merely 
shows  that  we  ought  to  discriminate  between  phenomena  that 
may  be  explained  by  abnormal  nervous  action,  and  those  which 
must  be  referred  to  some  other  cause;  that  it  would  seem  to  be 
not  intended  by  the  Author  of  our  nature  that  we  should  sur 
render  our  individual  reason  to  any  authority,  human  or  spirit 
ual  ;  that  we  should  try  the  spirits,  for  they  are  a  very  mixed 
set,  just  like  human  beings;  and  that  any  implicit  belief  in  the 
infallibility  of  spirit  communications  is  likely  to  lead  to  a  mental 
re-action  quite  as  far  from  the  truth  as  its  opposite  extreme. 
Perhaps  the  theory,  held  by  certain  Spiritualists,  that  there  are 
no  evil  spirits,  may  have  done  something  to  color  portions  of 


286  PLANCHETTE. 

the  report  of  the  Cleveland  committee ;  and  perhaps  they  have 
not  }-et  fought  their  \vav  out  of  the  wilderness  into  a  light 
which  may  one  day  be  theirs.  Their  sweeping  and  indiscrimi 
nate  condemnation  of  the  "dark-circle"  manifestations,  and 
their  loose,  unqualified  assertion,  that  "  darkness  is  a  condition 
assumed  and  insisted  upon  by  tricksters,"  are  so  contrary  to  the 
experience  of  many  investigators  who  have  had  as  ample  oppor 
tunities  as  they  can  have  had  to  satisfy  themselves  on  the  sub 
ject,  that  their  report  does  not  carry  the  weight  it  deserves  for 
much  in  it  that  is  true.  It  is  signed  by  F.  L.  Wadsworth,  J.  S. 
Loveland,  E.  C.  Clark,  and  M.  B.  Dyott. 

There  is  certainly  nothing  in  the  nature  of  the  facts  attested 
by  Spiritualists  (and  by  many  who  admit  the  facts  without  the 
hypothesis)  to  render  it  difficult  to  form  a  correct  judgment  as 
to  the  reality  of  occurrences  whether  in  light  or  dark  circles. 
Take  the  following  instance  quoted  by  Mr.  Shorter :  A  distin 
guished  London  physician  and  physiologist,  Dr.  Wilkinson,  in 
an  account  of  a  seance  he  attended,  mentions  among  other  phe 
nomena  witnessed  by  him,  that  a  hand-bell,  which  had  been 
brought  by  one  of  the  party,  was  rung  by  an  invisible  agency ; 
at  the  same  time  as  it  moved  towards  himself,  he  says,  "I 
moved  my  fingers  up  its  side  to  grasp  it.  When  I  came  to  the 
handle,  I  slid  my  fingers  on  rapidly;  and  now,  every  hand  but 
my  oivn  being  on  the  table,  I  distinctly  felt  the  fingers,  up  to  the 
palm,  of  a  hand  holding  the  bell.  It  was  a  soft,  warm,  fleshy, 
radiant,  substantial  hand,  such  as  I  should  be  glad  to  feel  at  the 
extremity  of  the  friendship  of  my  best  fri&nds.  But  I  had  no 
sooner  grasped  it  momentarily,  than  it  melted  away,  leaving 
me  void,  with  the  bell  in  my  hand.  I  now  held  the  bell  tightly, 
with  the  clapper  downwards ;  and  while  it  remained  perfectly 
still,  I  could  plainly  feel  fingers  ringing  it  by  the  clapper.  As  a 
point  of  observation,  I  will  remark,  that  I  should  feel  no  more 
difficulty  in  swearing  that  the  member  I  felt  was  a  human  hand 
of  extraordinary  life,  and  not  Mr.  Home's  foot,  than  that  the 
nose  of  the  Apollo  Belvidere  is  not  a  horse's  ear.  I  dwell 
chiefly,  because  I  can  speak  surely,  on  what  happened  to  myself, 


PALPABLE  FACTS.  287 

though  every  one  round  the  table  had  somewhat  similar  expe 
riences.  The  bell  was  carried  under  the  table  to  each,  and 
rung  in  the  hand  of  each.  .  .  .  They  all  felt  the  hand  or  hands, 
either  upon  their  knees  or  other  portions  of  their  limbs.  I  put 
my  hand  down  as  previously,  and  was  regularly  stroked  on  the 
back  of  it  by  a  soft,  palpable  hand  as  before.  Nay:  I  distinctly 
felt  the  whole  arm  against  mine,  and  once  grasped  the  hand ; 
but  it  melted,  as  on  the  first  occasion.  .  .  .  While  this  was  going 
on,  and  for  about  ten  minutes,  more  or  less,  my  wife  felt  the 
sleeves  of  her  dress  pulled  frequently;  and,  as  she  was  sitting 
with  her  finger-ends  clasped  and  hands  open,  with  palms  semi- 
prone  upon  the  table,  she  suddenly  laughed  involuntarily,  and 
said,  'Oh!  see,  there  is  a  little  hand  lying  between  mine;  and 
now  a  larger  hand  has  come  beside  it.  The  little  hand  is 
smaller  than  any  baby's,  and  exquisitely  perfect.'" 

At  a  subsequent  seance  at  Mr.  Rymer's  house,  at  Baling,  he 
describes  a  similar  experience.  The  hand  on  this  occasion  pur 
ported  (in  a  communication  made)  to  be  that  of  a  deceased  and 
intimate  friend,  ''  once  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  as  much 
before  the  public  as  any  man  in  his  generation." — "I  said," 
continues  the  narrator,  '"  If  it  is  really  you,  will  you  shake  hands 
with  me?'  and  I  put  my  hand  under  the  table;  and  now  the 
same  soft  and  capacious  hand  was  placed  in  mine,  and  gave  it  a 
cordial  shaking.  I  could  not  help  exclaiming,  'This  hand  is 
a  portrait.  I  know  it  from  five  years'  constant  intercourse, 
and  from  the  daily  grasp  and  holding  of  the  last  several 
months.'"  Others  who  were  present  at  these  seances  —  Mr.  Ry- 
mer,  Mr.  Coleman,  and  Mrs.  Trollope,  in  particular — have 
corroborated  the  testimony  of  this  writer. 

Commenting  upon  this  testimony,  Mr.  Shorter  remarks : 
"Whatever  weight  may  justly  attach  to  the  testimony  of  men 
of  known  ability  and  attainments,  any  man  of  ordinary  intelli 
gence  and  powers  of  observation  is  generally  able  to  judge,  in 
an  almost  equal  degree,  of  what  Chalmers  calls  '  plain  palpable 
facts'  under  his  own  observation.  Any  man,  for  instance,  who 
can  '  tell  a  hawk  from  a  hand-saw,'  can  tell  whether  a  table  is 


288  PLANCHETTE. 

resting  on  the  floor,  or  is  raised  above  it;  whether  a  man  is  sit 
ting  in  his  chair,  or  is  floating  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  room ; 
whether  sounds  made  by  no  visible  agency,  and  which  respond 
to  his  questions,  mental  or  otherwise,  are  heard  or  not;  whether 
a  strong,  heavy  table,  is,  at  his  request,  broken  in  fragments  by 
no  visible  agency,  '  in  about  half  a  minute,'  or  whether  it  re 
mains  whole.  These  things,  and  such  as  these,  which  rest  on 
'seeing  and  feeling  and  experimenting,'  are  so  plain  and  palpa 
ble  that  the  man  who  could  not  judge  of  their  reality  might 
conscientiously  say  with  Dogberry,  '  write  me  down  an  ass.'  It 
is  very  easy  to  pronounce  these  things  impossible ;  to  say  that 
they  cannot  be.  But  that  which  does  happen  can  happen ;  and 
to  tell  people  that  an  educated  judgment  would  convince  them 
that  they  did  not  see  what  they  saw,  and  did  not  feel  what  they 
felt,  can  only  furnish  an  illustration  of  that  particular  species 
of  rhetoric  called  bosh.  We  are  disciples  of  the  Baconian  phil 
osophy,  and  cannot  subscribe  to  that  reasoning  which  denies 
facts  when  they  do  not  square  with  our  pre-judgments  and  ac 
commodate  themselves  to  our  favorite  theories." 

Very  frivolous  and  pointless  are  such  objections  as  the  follow 
ing,  brought  by  a  critical  American  journal,  called  the  "Na 
tion,"  against  the  phenomena  so  pregnant  with  meaning  to 
millions  of  investigators  :  — 

"  If  the  wonders  of  Spiritualism,"  says  this  authority,  "  are 
perfectly  real,  they  are  just  as  perfectly  worthless.  They  prove 
nothing  but  the  powerlessness  of  those  who  execute  them, 
whether  they  be  spirits  or  mortals." 

"  They  move  chairs,  &c.;  but  it  is  nowhere  asserted  that  the 
mediums  move  furniture  half  as  well  as  day-laborers  and  por 
ters." 

"  They  are  unable  to  tell  any  particular  person  what  he  did 
not  know  already." 

This  last  objection  has  been  so  often  disproved,  and  the  narra 
tives  of  this  volume  confute  it  so  repeatedly,  that  we  need  not 
occupy  any  more  space  in  considering  it.  Our  own  experience, 
given  on  page  112  of  this  volume,  will  serve  as  our  answer. 


IRRATIONAL    OBJECTIONS.  289 

With  regard  to  the  other  objections,  which  are  mere  repeti 
tions  of  those  brought  by  unreflecting  persons  ever  since  the 
phenomena  of  1848  were  promulgated,  a  few  considerations  will 
show  how  much  weight  they  carry. 

Why,  if  these  wonders,  even  though  "real,"  are  "worthless," 
have  Faraday,  Brewster,  Babinet,  the  Cambridge  professors,  and 
many  other  eminent  men  of  science,  been  so  anxious  to  prove 
that  they  are  not  real  I 

If  a  phenomenon  be  worthless  in  itself,  will  it  have  no  value 
if  it  carry  evidence  that  it  is  the  work  of  a  spirit? 

Yet  the  affirmative  of  this  last  question  is  the  wholly  heedless 
and  irrational  position  taken  by  this  editor.  Every  person  of 
common  sense  will  see  its  absurdity. 

As  for  the  objection  that  the  mediums,  or  rather  the  forces 
operating  in  their  presence,  though  they  may  move  furniture, 
"  cannot  do  it  as  well  as  day-laborers  and  porters,"  this  would 
seem  to  be  a  very  blind  attempt  at  jocoseness,  since  the  whole 
interest  claimed  for  the  movements  referred  to,  lies  in  the  in 
quiry,  by  what  power  are  they  done,  not  how  skilfully  are  they 
done. 

And  yet  objections  thus  slight  and  trivial  are  fair  specimens 
of  the  kind  of  opposition  which  Spiritualism  has  encountered. 
Is  it  surprising  that  it  has  spread  and  grown  as  rapidly  as  it 
has? 

The  attempts  to  make  Spiritualism  responsible  for  the  heresies 
and  vagaries  of  certain  persons  calling  themselves  Spiritualists, 
are  manifestly  unjust.  Accusations  are  often  brought  that  Spir 
itualism  teaches  free  love,  pantheism,  socialism,  &c.  As  well 
say  that  the  Newtonian  philosophy  teaches  these  things !  Spir 
itualism  is  no  more  responsible  for  nominal  Spiritualists,  than 
Christianity  is  for  nominal  Christians,  among  which  last  may 
be  counted  free-love  Anabaptists,  Mormons,  and  the  brigands 
of  Italy. 

"  Pythonism  "  is  the  bad  name  which  the  "  ministers  of  the 
Massachusetts  Association  of  the  New  Jerusalem  "  (followers  of 
Swedenborg)  give  to  modern  Spiritualism;  the  name  being 

iq 


290  PLANCHETTE. 

derived,  they  tell  us,  from  t\ie  Python,  the  mythological  serpent, 
sprung  from  the  mud  after  Deucalion's  deluge,  and  which  Apollo 
alone  was  able  to  destroy.  "  Hence  the  priestess  of  Apollo,  at 
Delphi,  was  called  a  Pythoness."  "Who  cannot,  in  this  mytho 
logical  tradition,"  say  the  ministers,  "  see  the  serpent,  engend 
ered  by  the  very  lowest  things  of  humanity,"  —  Spiritualism,  of 
course,  being  the  chief  of  these  "  lowest  things." 

By  ordinary  persons,  the  supposed  communications  from  the 
spirit-world  will,  we  think,  in  this  nineteenth  century,  be  re 
ceived  as  we  receive  communications  through  books,  newspapers, 
and  even  weekly  critical  journals.  Various  and  sometimes  con 
flicting  as  these  communications  are,  they  merely  show  that 
spirits,  like  mortals,  are  very  fallible,  and  often  very  conceited 
individuals,  many  of  them  it  may  be,  groping  in  a  moral  and 
intellectual  darkness  denser  than  that  which  encompasses  many 
souls  yet  fettered  by  the  flesh.  Spiritualism  is  merely  an  affir 
mation  of  the  great  fact  of  spiritual  existence.  It  leaves  us  just 
where  all  codes  and  all  revelations  take  us  up ;  for  the  authority 
of  a  message,  come  whence  it  may,  lies  always  in  the  complete 
ness  of  its  harmony,  with  the  laws  of  our  being  as  disclosed  by 
the  highest  experiences  of  individuals  and  of  the  race. 

Nor  is  Spiritualism  any  thing  new,  though  never  before  in 
human  history  have  men  been  so  educated  and  prepared  to  re 
ceive  its  phenomena  in  a  scientific  spirit,  and  never  before  has 
priestcraft  been  so  impotent  to  dictate  terms,  or  to  put  its  own 
convenient  construction  on  facts  appealing  so  directly  to  the 
common  sense  of  mankind. 

"  The  idea  of  the  existence  of  spirits,"  says  one  of  our  Fre'nch 
collaborators  (Edward  de  Las  Graves),  "and  of  their  interven 
tion  in  human  affairs,  may  be  traced  back  to  the  most  remote 
epochs  of  antiquity.  We  find  it  in  all  the  philosophies  :  it  forms 
the  basis  of  all  the  religious  systems  of  the  ancients,  and  the 
Biblical  narratives  are  full  of  it.  The  Greeks,  the  Romans,  the 
Egyptians,  the  Druids,  the  Indians,  and  the  Chinese  had  their 
oracles  which  they  consulted.  The  Middle  Ages  could  not  bury 
the  idea  in  the  funeral  piles  which  devoured  their  sorcerers  and 


CONTRADICTIONS    OF    SPIRITS.  29! 

their  witches.  It  has  come  down  even  to  our  own  times,  braving 
all  persecutions,  surviving  all  the  revolutions,  physical  and 
moral,  of  humanity. 

"Beyond  a  doubt  this  idea,  imperishable  because  it  is  true, 
has  often  been  associated  with  a  thousand  absurdities.  Cupidity 
and  the  lust  of  domination  have  often  made  of  it  a  powerful 
weapon,  and  have  not  feared  even  to  disfigure,  and  pervert,  and 
play  false  with  it  in  order  to  subject  it  to  their  caprices,  their  am 
bitions,  or  their  needs.  But  the  time  has  come  at  length  when 
the  truth  is  destined  to  rise  and  glitter  in  all  its  splendor,  chas 
ing  pitilessly  the  errors  which  ignorance  and  superstition  have 
heaped  up  during  the  centuries." 

All  speech  is  spiritual.  All  communications  addressed  to  our 
moral  or  intellectual  faculties  are  of  spiritual  origin,  whether 
they  come  from  spirits  incarnate  or  disincarnate. 

Dr.  William  B.  Potter,  author  of  a  pamphlet  on  the  subject  of 
modern  Spiritualism,  says  of  the  communications  which  he 
himself  has  heard  through  mediums,  that  "  endless  contradic 
tions  and  absurdities  are  mixed  up  with  the  most  exalted  truths, 
and  the  most  profound  philosophies.  We  are  taught  that  God  is 
a  person,  that  he  is  impersonal ;  that  he  is  omnipotent,  that  he 
is  governed  by  nature's  laws ;  that  every  thing  is  God,  there  is 
no  God,  that  we  are  gods.  We  are  taught  that  the  soul  is  eter 
nal  ;  that  it  commences  its  existence  at  conception,  at  birth,  at 
maturity,  at  old  age.  That  all  are  immortal,  that  some  are  im 
mortal,  that  none  are  immortal.  That  the  soul  is  a  winged 
monad  in  the  centre  of  the  brain ;  that  it  gets  tired,  and  goes 
down  into  the  stomach  to  rest;  that  it  is  material,  that  it  is  im 
material  ;  that  it  is  unchangeable ;  that  it  changes  like  the 
body,  that  it  dies  with  the  body,  that  it  develops  the  body,  that 
it  is  developed  by  the  body,  that  it  is  human  in  form ;  that  it  is 
in  but  one  place  at  a  time,  that  it  is  in  all  places  at  the  same 
time. 

"  We  are  taught  that  the  spirit- world  is  on  earth, — just  above 
the  air,  —  beyond  the' milky-way.  That  it  has  but  one  sphere, 
three  spheres,  six  spheres,  seven  spheres,  thirty-six  spheres,  an 


292  PLANCHETTE. 

infinite  number  of  spheres.  That  it  is  a  real,  tangible  world; 
that  it  is  all  a  creation  of  the  mind  of  the  beholder,  and  appears 
different  to  different  spirits.  That  it  is  inhabited  by  animals, 
birds,  &c. ;  that  they  do  not  inhabit  it.  That  it  is  a  sea  of  ether; 
that  it  is  a  plain,  that  it  has  mountains,  lakes,  and  valleys;  that 
it  is  a  belt  around  the  earth.  We  are  taught  that  spirits  eat 
food,  —  live  by  absorption;  live  on  magnetism,  thoughts,  love. 
That  they  control  media  by  will-power,  by  magnetism,  by  enter 
ing  media,  by  standing  by  their  side,  by  an  influence  beyond  our 
atmosphere,  by  permission  of  the  Lord. 

"That  spirits  converse  by  thought-reading,  by  oral  language. 
That  their  music  is  harmony  of  soul;  that  it  is  instrumental  and 
vocal.  That  they  live  single ;  in  groups  of  nine.  That  they 
marry  without  having  offspring;  that  they  have  offspring  by 
mortals ;  that  they  have  offspring  by  each  other.  That  their 
marriage  is  temporary;  that  it  is  eternal.  That  spirits  never 
live  again  in  the  flesh ;  that  they  do  return,  and  enter  infant 
bodies,  and  live  many  lives  in  the  flesh.  That  some  are  born 
first  in  the  spheres,  and  afterwards  are  born  on  earth  in  the  flesh. 
That  the  true  affinity  is  born  in  the  spirit-world  at  the  same 
time  that  the  counterpart  is  born  on  earth.  That  all  spirits  are 
good,  that  some  are  bad ;  that  all  progress,  that  some  progress, 
that  none  progress.  .  .  . 

"  That  there  is  no  high,  no  low,  no  good,  no  bad.  That  mur 
der  is  right,  lying  is  right,  slavery  is  right,  adultery  is  right. 
That  whatever  is,  is  right.  That  nothing  we  can  know  can  in 
jure  the  soul,  or  retard  its  progress.  That  it  is  wrong  to  blame 
any;  that  none  should  be  punished;  that  man  is  a  machine,  and 
not  to  blame  for  his  conduct.  .  .  .  That  the  spirit  of  the  tree 
exists  in  perfect  form  after  the  tree  is  burnt.  That  monads  are 
God's  thoughts,  and  go  through  all  forms  of  rocks,  trees,  ani 
mals,  and  at  last  become  men.  That  spirit  is  substance,  in  ab 
solute  condensation;  that  matter  is  substance,  whose  particles 
never  touch." 

The  reply  to  statements  like  these  hasten  well  made  by  Mr. 
A.  E.  Newton,  who  writes  as  follows :  "  To  our  view,  the  evi- 


CONTRADICTIONS    OF    SPIRITS.  293 

dence  of  the  basis-fact  of  modern  Spiritualism  —  namely,  'the 
intelligent  communication  of  spirits  with  minds  in  the  flesh'  — 
does  not  depend  at  all  upon  either  the  truthfulness  or  the  agree- 
ment  of  their  statements  about  any  subject.  Even  should  all 
who  communicate,  agree  in  denying  that  there  is  a  spiritual 
world,  or  that  any  spirits  exist  at  all,  that  denial  would  be  no 
proof  of  such  non-existence;  on  the  contrary,  it  would  be  a  very 
strong  corroborative  evidence  in  favor  of  spirit  existence,  for 
such  testimony  could  not  be  supposed  to  originate  in  the  minds 
of  the  mediums.  The  testimony  itself  must  come  from  mind,  and 
that  mind  must  have  existence.  If  not  from  the  mind  of  the 
medium,  or  any  one  in  the  body  acting  through  the  medium, 
then  it  must  be  from  a  disembodied  mind.  The  (Cretans  were 
once  declared  to  be  '  always  liars ;  '  and  yet  nobody  doubts  that 
the  Cretans  had  existence,  even  though  they  themselves  might 
affirm  or  deny  the  fact.  The  proof  of  communication  from  the 
spirit-world  depends  on  the  evidence  of  mental  action  aside  from 
and  beyond  that  of  the  medium,  or  any  mind  in  the  flesh,  and  not 
on  the  agreement,  wisdom,  or  good  sense  manifested  in  such 
communications. 

"But  contradictions,  even  as  to  matters  of  fact,  are  often 
merely  apparent,  rather  than  real,  arising  from  mutual  misun 
derstandings  as  to  the  meaning  of  terms,  and  from  too  narrow 
and  unphilosophical  views  of  things. 

"We  would  remind  all  who  are  perplexed  with  the  statements 
of  spirits  in  respect  to  the  spirit- world,  that  it  is  doubtless  vastly 
more  extensive  than  earth,  and  hence  may  present  a  far  greater 
variety  of  objective  realities,  and  of  modes  of  life  and  thought, 
than  pertains  to  the  earth-life.  And,  furthermore,  since  the 
spirit-world  is  the  world  of  causes,  each  external  object  must  be 
to  the  beholder  just  ivhat  his  perceptions  make  it;  that  is,  it 
appears  according  to  his  po-wer  of  insight  as  to  its  uses  and  rela 
tions.  Hence  the  same  object  may  appear  as  one  thing  to  one 
person,  and  as  quite  another  thing  to  a  person  differently  un 
folded. 

"This  principle  is  exhibited  to  some  extent  in  this  rudimental 


294  PLANCHETTE. 

sphere.  For  example,  we  have  known  two  persons  to  attend 
the  same  concert  of  instrumental  music,  — one  having  little  or 
no  musical  culture,  the  other  possessing  a  very  exquisite  ear. 
To  the  first,  some  of  the  finest  compositions  were  for  the  most 
part  a  mere  jargon  of  inharmonious  sounds  which  pained  and 
tired  the  ear;  while  the  other  was  by  these  same  sounds  trans 
ported  to  the  seventh  heaven  of  rapturous  delight. 

"  So  of  objects  seen  :  to  the  child  or  the  uncultivated  clown, 
that  most  gorgeous  of  spectacles,  the  evening  sky,  is  a  solid  dome 
of  comparatively  limited  dimensions,  in  which  are  hung  up  a 
multitude  of  little  lamps  for  man's  sole  use;  while  the  astrono 
mer  sees  worlds  on  worlds  filled  with  life  and  beauty,  among 
which  this  e^rth  is  but  a  tiny  speck  floating  in  immensity." 

Lord  Lytton,  whose  abilities  in  many  instances  we  have  ad 
mired,  has  shown,  in  his  novel  of  "A  Strange  Story,"  that  he 
can  both  write  a  very  stupid  book,  and  venture  to  treat  of  things 
with  which  his  acquaintance  is  superficial  and  inaccurate.  He 
here  gives  no  evidence  that  he  has  ever  investigated  the  subject 
of  the  spiritual  phenomena,  ancient  and  modern,  with  any  pro 
fundity,  of  research  or  meditation.  He  so  mixes  up  the  crudest 
and  most  incongruous  fancies  of  an  imagination  in  search  of  the 
sensational  with  fragments  of  genuine  truth,  that  his  book  has 
the  effect  on  one  of  a  wretched  nightmare  instead  of  a  presenta 
tion  of  credible  phenomena  that  can  be  reconciled  with  existing 
facts. 

In  a  letter  bearing  date  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1867,  Lord 
Lytton  writes  to  Mr.  Benjamin  Coleman,  "All  the  experiments 
I  have  witnessed,  if  severely  probed,  go  against  the  notion 
that  the  phenomena  are  produced  by  the  spirits  of  the  dead ; 
and  I  imagine  that  no  man,  who  can  take  care  of  his  pockets, 
would  give  up  his  property  to  a  claimant,  who  could  bear  cross- 
examination  as  little  as  some  alleged  spirit,  who  declares  he  is 
your  father  or  friend,  and  tells  you  where  he  died,  and  then 
proceeds  to  talk  rubbish,  of  which  he  would  have  been  incapable 
when  he  was  alive.  I  can  conceive  no  prospect  of  the  future 
world  more  melancholy,  than  that  in  which  Voltaires  and  Shake- 


MATTER    AND    SPIRIT.  295 

speares  are  represented  as  having  fallen  into  boobies,  or,  at 
best,  of  intellects  below  mediocrity." 

See  Kerner's  answer,  and  the  answers  elsewhere  in  this  vol 
ume,  to  obvious  objections,  like  these,  from  persons  who,  like 
Lord  Ljtton,  have  gone  but  a  little  way  in  the  path  of  investi 
gation.  All  inquirers,  like  the  friend  who  wrote  the  letter  on 
the  Rochester  knockings  (page  34  of  this  volume),  have  to  pass 
through  that  phase  of  doubt  at  which  the  distinguished  novelist 
seems  to  have  arrived  and  stopped. 

Because  there  may  be  mendacious,  wanton,  or  frivolous  spir 
its,  who  choose  to  assume  great  names,  it  does  not  follow  that 
they  represent  the  whole  spirit-world,  any  more  than  Falstaff 
and  Pecksniff"  represent  all  humanity. 

Lord  Lytton  says  that  in  all  controversies  on  this  question, 
he  has  found  no  clear  definition  of  what  is  meant  by  spirit. 
And  yet  he  talks  very  glibly  of  matter,  and  of  agencies  "operat 
ing  upon  or  through  matter,"  as  if  he  well  knew  what  mat 
ter  is. 

But  we  know  just  as  much  about  spirit  as  we  do  about  mat 
ter.  It  is  true  that  we  know  nothing  of  the  essence  of  spirit :  it  is 
equally  true  that  we  know  nothing  of  the  substance  or  essence 
of  matter.  But  perhaps  the  reader  will  say,  "We  cannot  see 
spirit,  and,  therefore,  we  know  but  little  about  it."  "  Did  it  ever 
occur  to  the  reader,"  asks  a  scientific  writer,  "that  we  cannot 
see  matter  either?  When  we  look  at  any  object,  it  is  not  the 
object,  after  all,  that  we  see,  but  merely  the  image  of  it  formed 
on  the  retina  of  the  eye.  When  I  look  at  a  house  a  mile  distant, 
the  object  that  I  really  see  is  not  a  mile  distant,  but  within  the 
eye.  I  do  not  see  the  house  at  all,  but  I  see  an  image  of  light 
representing  the  house.  Thus  it  appears  that  matter  is  just 
as  invisible  as  spirit.  We  know  some  of  t\\o,  properties  and  larvs 
of  spirit,  and  this  is  precisely  the  extent  of  our  knowledge  of 
matter." 

Newton  was  of  opinion  that  if  sufficient  pressure  were  put 
upon  the  earth,  it  would  be  compressed  to  the  size  of  a  globe  an 
inch  in  diameter.  And  if  to  that  size,  why  not  to  that  of  a  pea, 


296  PLANCHETTE. 

and  from  that  to  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  and  from  that  to  an 
invisible  particle  of  dust.  Newton  virtually  denied  the  exist 
ence  of  matter  as  substance.  Nothing  remains  but  a  congeries 
of  laws.  "If  the  ultimate  particles  of  matter  are  mathematical 
points,*  as  Newton  assumed,  it  follows  that  if  the  particles  of 
which  the  earth  is  composed  were  made  to  touch  each  other,  the 
whole  earth  would  be  reduced  to  a  mathematical  point.  And 
who  can  show  that  this  hypothesis  (that  the  laws  of  matter  are, 
in  fact,  all  there  is  of  matter)  is  not  scientifically  correct?" 

It  would  seem  that  Providence  does  not  mean  we  shall  be 
spared  the  trouble  of  thinking  for  ourselves.  And  so  neither 
mortal  nor  spirit  comes  to  us  with  the  credentials  of  infalli 
bility.  "The  commonplace  character  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
spirit  communications,  the  extravagant  and  turgid  character  of 
some,  cease  to  perplex  when  we  come  to  view  them  as  proceed 
ing  from  beings  lately  ordinary  dwellers  upon  earth,  and  retain 
ing  still  their  earthly  dispositions  and  ideas.  True,  the  difficulty 
remains  as  to  why  some  small  portion  at  least  of  these  commu 
nications  should  not  bear  the  impress  of  transcendent  wisdom 
and  genius.  The  absence  from  them  of  any  thing  equalling, 
far  less  surpassing,  the  highest  products  of  the  human  mind, 
argues,  it  must  be  admitted,  some  hinderance  to  intercourse  with 
spiritual  beings  of  an  exalted  order :  may  we  not  hope  to  over 
come  it?"f 

In  regard  to  the  varied  and  contradictory  character  of  the 
communications,  "  Honestas "  remarks  in  "Human  Nature," 
"As  our  childhood  prepares  us  for  maturer  age,  so  our  present 
life  mediatorially  renders  us  fit  for  the  enjoyment  of  a  future 
condition.  But  mediation  implies  that  the  characteristics  of 
the  former  condition  shall  be  preserved,  and  that  they  aid  in 
bridging  over  the  gulf  that  severs  this  life  from  the  state  here 
after.  And  with  the  preservation  of  our  individuality,  is  it  far- 

*  It  was  the  conclusion  of  Faraday  that  matter,  in  its  last  analysis,  is  resolvable 
into  points  of  force. 

t  Swedenborg  tells  us  that  the  communications  of  angels  and  spirits  are  limited  by 
the  materials  found  in  man's  memory. 


THE    CHANGE    MADE    BY    DEATH.  297 

fetched  to  say,  that  the  conditions  which  surround,  sustain,  and 
render  its  continuance  possible,  cannot  be  so  world-wide  different 
in  the  future  life  as  to  make  intercommunication  between  the  two 
states  impossible;  that  the  physical  circumstances  of  spirits  and 
of  man  have  something  akin,  something  in  common,  rendering 
superable  that  which  was  once  believed  insuperable  ?  .  .  . 

•'Now,  in  the  varied  character  of  the  communications,  we 
have  a  standard  given  us  to  measure  the  actual  amount  of  the 
change  which  that  death,  that  transition,  into  a  perhaps  more 
subtle  and  elementary  condition,  effects.  The  change  does  not, 
however,  carry  with  it  complete  severance ;  on  the  contrary, 
mediated  by  growth  and  development  on  earth,  the  soul  is  sus 
tained  by  a  condition  of  material  laws,  mediatorially  rendered 
applicable  by  prior  growth.  In  a  word,  the  state  hereafter  can 
not  differ  insuperably  from  that  on  earth. 

"  Spiritualism  has  often  given  offence  because  it  has  failed  to 
satisfy  the  cravings  of  those  who  desire  for  perfection  here 
after, —  a  perfection,  it  is  unreasoning,  illogical,  to  ask  for.  The 
varied  character  of  the  communications,  so  far  from  making 
me  hesitate,  strengthens  my  belief  in  the  reality  of  Spiritual 
ism;  for  it  brings  me  back  from  an  ideal  to  a  reality;  and  in 
this  reality  I  recognize  the  law  of  gradual  step-by-step  progress; 
no  jump  and  bound  into  something  uncongenial,  but  a  progress 
into  a  mediatorially  prepared  and  kindred  state,  in  which  the 
individuality  of  the  soul  is  maintained.  This  individuality 
could  not,  however,  be  sustained,  unless  supported  by  the  influ 
ence  of  great  physical  laws,  which  again  co-operate  and  harmo 
nize  with  those  we  recognize  as  operative  in  this,  to  us,  natural 
world." 

The  "Banner  of  Light,"  the  leading  spiritual  journal  of 
America,  introduces  all  its  messages,  purporting  to  come  from 
the  spirit-world,  with  these  words  of  caution:  "We  ask  the 
reader  to  receive  no  doctrine  put  forth  by  spirits  in  these  col 
umns  that  does  not  comport  with  his  or  her  reason.  All  express 
as  much  of  truth  as  they  perceive,  —  no  more." 

Plutarch  raises  the  same  objections  to  the  style  of  the  oracles 


298  PLANCHETTE. 

in  his  day  that  we  raise  to  that  of  the  spiritual  communications 
of  ours.  "If  the  verses,"  asks  one  of  his  speakers,  "  are  really 
bad,  ought  we  to  make  Apollo  their  composer?"  And  the  con 
clusion  is,  that  "  the  first  inspiration  alone  comes  from  him, 
which  is,  however,  adapted  to  the  nature  of  every  prophetess." 

An  ingenious  writer  remarks,  that  to  the  reader  familiar  with 
spiritual  phenomena,  it  is  evident  even  from  the  sneering  narra 
tive  of  Gibbon,  that  the  apostasy  of  Julian,  and  his  intense 
enthusiasm  in  the  cause  of  the  fallen  faith,  was  in  truth  due  to 
communication  with  the  invisible  world.  Spirits  of  departed 
pagans,  still  clinging  to  their  earthly  creed,  seem  to  have  im 
pressed  him  powerfully,  visiting  him,  and  conversing  with  him 
in  the  forms  of  the  Olympian  gods.  "We  may  learn,"  says  Gib 
bon,  "  from  his  faithful  friend  the  orator  Libanius,  that  he  lived 
in  a  perpetual  intercourse  with  the  gods  and  goddesses,  that 
they  descended  upon  earth  to  enjoy  the  conversation  of  their 
favorite  hero,  that  they  gently  interrupted  his  slumbers  by 
touching  his  hand  or  his  hair,  that  they  warned  him  of  every 
impending  danger,  and  conducted  him  by  their  infallible  wis 
dom  in  every  action  of  his  life." 

Still,  notwithstanding  the  contradictory  character  of  many  of 
the  communications  purporting  to  come  from  spirits,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  among  those  that  do  not  seem  to  be  prompted  by 
mere  wantonness  or  an  insane  conceit,  there  is  a  wonderful 
agreement  on  certain  important  points.  For  example,  this  bet 
ter  class  seem  to  be  unanimous  in  rejecting  the  notions  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  physical  body;  the  eternity  of  hell  torments; 
and  the  doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement,  in  the  sense  in  which 
the  so-called  evangelical  theology  teaches  it. 

They  regard  all  punishment  as  remedial ;  *  and  the  popular 
belief  that  the  discipline  of  man  and  his  moral  responsibility 
cease  at  the  period  we  call  death,  they  denounce  as  a  groundless 
assumption,  in  contradiction  with  the  whole  system  on  which 


*  See  a  communication  in  the  "London  Pall  Mall  Gazette,"  of  Nov.  9,  1866,  for 
much  of  this  statement. 


ALL    PUNISHMENT    REMEDIAL.  299 

the  moral  and  physical  universe  is  conducted.  Looking  back 
myriads  of  ages,  they  bid  us  see  always  one  slow,  unbroken  pro 
cess  of  growth  and  development;  and  they  point  to  the  same  in 
the  history  of  man  as  a  race,  and  of  each  man  as  an  individual. 
They  tell  us  there  is  no  precedent  in  creation  for  any  such  dislo 
cation  of  the  action  of  organic  law  as  would  be  involved  in  that 
sudden  cessation  of  the  operation  of  moral  and  intellectual  disci 
pline,  which  is  popularly  supposed  to  be  the  result  of  death ; 
that  to  suppose  that  every  person  who  has  "faith"  and  some 
small  "  good  works  "  is  instantly  elevated  to  an  eternal  happi 
ness,  is  one  of  the  most  irrational  of  theories,  as  is  likewise  the 
doctrine  that  the  good  are  subjected  to  a  purifying  process 
without  any  further  moral  responsibility;  that  is,  without  any 
further  real  moral  discipline  whatsoever. 

If  it  be  asked,  How  is  this  view  to  be  applied  to  the  millions 
in  whom  no  moral  discipline  is  commenced  before  death,  this  is 
the  reply :  We  perceive  that  in  the  case  of  those  in  whom  the 
moral  discipline  is  really  begun,  and  is  carried  on  to  the  utmost 
perfection,  a  material  portion  of  their  existence  is  necessarily 
passed  before  the  commencement  of  the  discipline. 

For  years  we  all  live  a  purely  animal  existence,  and  are  ap 
parently  not  a  whit  more  like  saints  and  sages  in  an  embryonic 
stage  than  are  the  most  degraded  savages  of  Africa.  How  it  is 
that  an  infancy  and  childhood  of  animalism  and  passion  are  an 
organic  preparation  for  an  intellectual  and  moral  probation,  we 
cannot  tell ;  but  there  is  the  fact,  not  shocking,  or  distressing, 
or  bewildering,  because  we  are  familiar  with  it,  and  we  are 
cognizant  of  the  subsequent  development  of  the  reasoning  and 
moral  character.  Just  such  may  be  the  whole  terrestrial  exist 
ence  of  the  savages  under  the  tropics,  or  in  our  own  fields  and 
cities.  All  analogy  leads  us  to  the  supposition  that  it  may  be 
simply  the  infancy  of  an  existence  commenced  here  and  devel 
oped  hereafter.  They  live  and  die  in  ignorance  of  their  nature 
and  their  coming  destiny,  like  a  babe  that  dies  after  a  year  of 
sickness  and  misery.  This  ignorance  is,  too,  in  harmony  with 
that  general  law  of  ignorance  slowly  passing  into  knowledge, 


3OO  PLANCHETTE. 

whose  operation  meets  us  wherever  we  turn  our  eyes.  It  is  one 
of  the  great  mysteries  of  our  life.  "If  there  is  a  God,"  we  are 
tempted  to  ask,  "why  does  he  thus  hide  himself?  And  why 
cannot  we  speak  with  him  as  we  speak  with  one  another?" 
There  is  no  answer.  We  do  not  know.  But  we  do  know  that 
ignorance  of  things  great  and  good  and  true  is  no  proof  that 
they  do  not  exist.  The  ignorance  of  God  in  the  savage  and  the 
pariah  is  no  more  a  proof  that  he  does  not  intend  some  day  to 
make  himself  known  to  them,  than  their  ignorance  of  the  law 
of  gravitation  is  a  disproof  of  astronomical  science. 

Should  this  solution  of  the  mystery  of  human  existence  be 
thought  to  indicate  too  near  an  approach  to  the  ancient  doctrine 
of  pre-existence  and  metempsychosis,  it  can  none  the  less  be 
admitted  as  in  harmony  with  much  of  the  speculation  that  pro 
fesses  to  come  from  spiritual  sources. 

As  there  are  no  acknowledged  leaders  of  the  present  spiritual 
movement,  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  lay  down  any  state 
ment  of  theological'  or  religious  doctrines  in  which  Spiritualists 
agree.  "  Our  cardinal  rule  of  action,"  says  Judge  Edmonds,  one 
of  the  best  known  of  the  American  Spiritualists,  "  has  been  to 
build  up  no  party,  create  no  sect,  cultivate  no  spirit  of  proselyt- 
ism,  make  no  parade  of  faith,  but  let  it  enter  your  soul  and 
govern  your  life." 

A  convention  of  Spiritualists  at  Rochester,  N.Y.,  September, 
1868,  adopted  a  series  of  resolutions  which  embody  many  of  the 
conclusions  at  which  a  large  number  have  arrived;  but  the  con 
vention  wisely  put  forth  these  resolutions  as  presenting  the 
opinions  of  those  persons  only  ivho  -voted  in  the  affirmative. 

Spiritualism,  they  say,  teaches,  "That  man  has  a  spiritual 
nature  as  well  as  a  corporeal;  in  other  words,  that  the  real  man 
is  a  spirit,  which  spirit  has  an  organized  form,  composed  of 
sublimated  material,  with  parts  and  organs  corresponding  to 
those  of  the  corporeal  body.  That  man,  as  a  spirit,  is  immortal. 
Being  found  to  survive  that  change  called  physical  death,  it  may 
be  reasonably  supposed  that  he  will  survive  all  future  vicissi 
tudes.  That  there  is  a  spiritual  world,  or  state  with  its  substan- 


THE    ROCHESTER    RESOLUTIONS.  30! 

tial  realities,  objective  as  well  as  subjective.  That  the  process 
of  physical  death  in  no  way  essentially  transforms  the  mental 
constitution  or  the  moral  character  of  those  who  experience  it, 
else  it  would  destroy  their  identity.  That  happiness  or  suffering 
in  the  spiritual  state,  as  in  this,  depends  not  on  arbitrary  decree, 
or  special  provision,  but  on  character,  aspirations  and  degree 
of  harmonization,  or  personal  conformity  to  universal  and 
divine  law. 

"  Hence  that  the  experience  and  attainments  of  this  life  lay  the 
foundation  on  which  the  next  commences.  That  since  growth, 
in  some  degree,  is  the  law  of  the  human  being  in  the  present 
life;  and  since  the  process  called  death  is,  in  fact,  but  a  birth 
into  another  condition  of  life,  retaining  all  the  advantages 
gained  in  the  experiences  of  this  life,  it  may  be  inferred  that 
growth,  development,  expansion,  or  progression  is  the  endless 
destiny  of  the  human  spirit.  That  the  spiritual  world  is  not  far 
off,  but  near  around,  or  interblended  with  our  present  state  of 
existence ;  and  hence  that  we  are  constantly  under  the  cogni 
zance  of  spiritual  beings.  That  as  individuals  are  passing  from 
the  earthly  to  the  spiritual  state  in  all  stages  of  mental  and 
moral  growth,  that  state  includes  all  grades  of  character  from 
the  lowest  to  the  highest. 

"That,  as  heaven  and  hell,  or  happiness  and  misery,  depend 
on  internal  states  rather  than  external  surroundings,  there  are 
as  many  gradations  of  each  as  there  are  shades  of  character,  — 
each  one  gravitating  to  his  own  place  by  natural  law  of  affinity. 
They  may  be  divided  into  seven  general  degrees  or  spheres ; 
but  these  must  admit  of  indefinite  diversifications,  or  '  many 
mansions,'  corresponding  to  diversified  individual  character,  — 
each  individual  being  as  happy  as  his  character  will  allow  him 
to  be. 

•'That  communications  from  the  spirit- world,  whether  by 
mental  impression,  inspiration,  or  any  other  mode  of  transmis 
sion,  are  not  necessarily  infallible  truth ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
partake  unavoidably  of  the  imperfections  of  the  minds  from 
which  they  emanate,  and  of  the  channels  through  which  they 


3O2  PLANCHETTE. 

come ;  and  are,  moreover,  liable  to  misinterpretation  by  those 
to  whom  they  are  addressed.  Hence,  that  no  inspired  commu 
nication,  in  this  or  any  other  age  (whatever  claims  may  be,  or 
have  been,  set  up  as  to  its  source),  is  authoritative  any  further 
than  it  expresses  truth  to  the  individual  consciousness, — which 
last  is  the  final  standard  to  which  all  inspired  or  spiritual  teach 
ings  must  be  brought  for  judgment.  That  inspiration,  or  the 
influx  of  ideas  and  promptings  from  the  spiritual  realm,  is  not 
a  miracle  of  a  past  age,  but  a  perpetual  fact,  the  ceaseless 
method  of  the  divine  economy  for  human  elevation.  That  all 
angelic  and  demoniac  beings  which  have  manifested  them 
selves,  or  interposed  in  human  affairs  in  the  past,  were  simply 
disembodied  human  spirits,  in  different  grades  of  advance 
ment. 

"  That  all  authentic  miracles  (so  called)  in  the  past,  such  as  the 
raising  of  the  apparently  dead ;  the  healing  of  the  sick,  by  lay 
ing  on  of  hands  or  other  simple  means ;  unharmed  contact  with 
poisons ;  the  movement  of  physical  objects,  without  visible  in 
strumentality,  &c.,  —  have  been  produced  in  harmony  with 
universal  laws,  and  hence  may  be  repeated  at  any  time  under 
suitable  conditions.  That  the  causes  of  all  phenomena,  the 
sources  of  all  life,  intelligence,  and  love,  are  to  be  sought  in 
the  internal,  the  spiritual  realm,  not  in  the  external  or  material. 
That  the  chain  of  causation  leads  inevitably  upward  or  onward 
to  an  infinite  spirit,  who  is  not  only  a  forming  principle  (wis 
dom),  but  an  affectional  source  (love),  —  thus  sustaining  the 
dual,  parental  relations  as  father  and  mother  to  all  finite  intelli 
gences,  who,  of  course,  are  all  brethren. 

"That  man,  as  the  offspring  of  this  infinite  parent,  is  his 
highest  representative  on  this  plane  of  being,  —  the  perfect  man 
being  the  most  complete  embodiment  of  the  'Father's  fulness' 
which  we  can  contemplate;  and  that  each  man  is,  or  has,  by 
virtue  of  this  parentage  in  his  inmost,  a  germ  of  divine  essence, 
which  is  ever  prompting  to  the  right,  and  which  in  time  will 
free  itself  from  all  imperfections  incident  to  the  rudimental  or 
earthly  condition,  and  will  triumph  over  all  evil.  That  all  evil 


DISCIPLINE    OF    EVIL.  303 

is  disharmony,  greater  or  less  with  this  inmost  or  divine  princi 
ple;  and  hence  whatever  aids  man  to  bring  his  more  external 
nature  into  subjection  to,  and  harmony  with,  his  interiors,  — 
whether  it  be  called  '  Christianity,'  '  Spiritualism,'  or  the  '  Har- 
monial  Philosophy;'  whether  it  recognize  the  'Holy  Ghost,' 
the  Bible,  or  a  present  spiritual  and  celestial  influx,  —  is  a 
'means  of  salvation'  from  evil." 

Dr.  Henry  T.  Childs,  of  Philadelphia,  a  medium,  writes  as 
follows :  "  Having  seen  and  conversed  with  many  spirits  in 
different  conditions,  the  facts  are  as  clear  to  me  as  they  can  be, 
that  the  after-life  and  this  are  subject  to  progression,  and  that 
not  from  a  pure  stand-point  of  excellence  in  which  there  are  no 
evil  tendencies,  but  from  whatever  condition  the  spirit  may  be 
in.  I  have  yet  to  find  a  spirit  who  does  not  feel  that  progression 
and  growth  are  synonymous,  and  they  ever  mean  a  reaching 
forward  to  something  better  and  leaving  something  that  is  evil. 
Death  is  nothing  more  than  an  incident  in  the  continuous  life 
line  of  humanity,  changing  the  surroundings,  but  leaving  the 
interior  just  as  it  'was. 

"With  this  experience,  I  know  there  are  evil  spirits;  spirits 
who,  like  men,  may  delight  in  mischief  and  perverseness ;  who 
have  not  realized  their  own  rights  sufficiently  to  respect  the 
rights  of  others ;  and  my  reason  teaches  me  just  what  these 
facts  have  demonstrated  to  me.  Seeing  evil  all  around  us,  I  see 
also  the  beautiful  spiral  pathway  of  progress,  which  is  ever  lead 
ing  us  up  out  of  these  conditions." 

The  following  lines  by  Daniel  Norton  embody,  we  believe,  the 
views  of  great  numbers  of  Spiritualists  on  the  subject  of  the 
ministry  of  evil :  — 

"  Sin  leads  to  pain,  and  pain  repentance  brings : 

Thus  sin,  though  evil,  is  a  savior ; 
For  in  its  train  comes  knowledge  of  those  things 
To  soul  and  body  hurtful ;  and  the  stings 
Of  conscience  bring  us  wisdom.     Wisdom  brings 

The  pledge  of  future  good  behavior. 
Blessed  be  Darkness,  then  !     It  bringeth  light 

From  out  the  darkness,  brighter  glowing. 


304  PLANCHETTE. 

Blessed  be  Evil ;  for  it  bringeth  Right, 
As  day  is  more  effulgent  after  night ; 
Blessed  be  Sorrow ;  it  begets  the  might, 
To  set  life's  truer  current  flowing." 

To  this  doctrine  it  is  objected  by  the  theologians,  that,  as  it 
makes  an  entrance  into  evil  necessary  in  order  to  serve  as  a  self- 
conscious  return  to  good,  it  exalts  evil  itself  into  goodness ;  the 
idea  of  sin  and  responsibility  is  destroyed,  and  views  are  intro 
duced  that  would  prove  fatal  to  all  true  morality,  as  they  would 
imply  that  no  being  can  be  properly  educated,  except  through  a 
process  of  sinning. 

Perhaps  this  is  an  extreme  construction  to  put  upon  the  doc 
trine.  If  life  be  disciplinary,  all  our  experiences  must  be 
designed  for  our  information  and  our  good.  Then  comes  up 
the  terrible  problem  of  free  agency ;  and  from  this,  we  shall 
see,  as  we  proceed,  many  great  and  learned  men  can  find  no 
escape  except  in  the  hypothesis  of  a  pre  -  existent  state  of 
the  soul. 

As  a  specimen  of  the  expositions  of  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
of  American  mediums,  Mr.  Selden  J.  Finney,  we  give  the  fol 
lowing  abridgment  of  one  of  his  discourses.  Of  course  it 
merely  expresses  the  views  of  an  individual  in  regard  to  the 
philosophy  of  modern  Spiritualism;  but  we  quote  it  as  mani 
festing  no  ordinary  degree  of  philosophical  culture  and  insight. 
"  The  great,  distinguishing  feature  of  this  philosophy,"  says 
Mr.  Finney,  "  is  that  it  begins  with  the  demonstration  of  a 
transcendent  spiritual  nature,  called  the  soul,  within  the  body 
of  man.  This  it  defines  as  an  organic,  spiritual  entity;  and 
proves  that  it  lives  on,  after  the  physical  body  is  dead,  in  higher 
spheres,  subject  to  the  same  laws  of  intellectual,  social,  and 
moral  being  that  rule  us  here ;  though,  in  those  higher  spheres, 
it  has  been  translated  into  more  refined  conditions  and  rela 
tions.  .  .  . 

"  It  demonstrates  that  all  angels  are  planet-born  men  and 
women.  It  proves  the  unity  of  nature,  and  so  shows  that  our 
hells  are  kindled  here  by  our  own  hands  in  our  own  breasts. 


DISCOURSE    OF   A    MEDIUM.  305 

It  shows  that  when  every  physical  sense  is  paralyzed,  the  mind 
and  soul  may  be  all  the  more  untrammelled,  —  as  in  trance  and 
clairvoyance,  —  and  can  soar  afar  into  the  deeps  of  external 
nature  or  hold  blessed  communion  with  spiritual  intelligences. 
The  wonders  of  clairvoyance,  of  trance-mediumship,  of  inspira 
tional  speaking,  of  table-moving,  of  impersonation,  —  in  fact, 
of  all  the  great  classes  of  mediumship,  —  are  the  external  proofs 
of  the  reality  of  our  philosophy ;  while  the  vas£  revelations  that 
constitute  the  contents  of  the  best  communications  are  the  ideal 
elements.  .  .  . 

"Even  a  brute  can  be  surprised  by  the  movement  of  a  table 
without  contact  of  visible  power;  while  under  the  inspiration 
of  the  gifted  seer  and  poet,  the  great  fields  of  eternal  day  break 
on  our  rapt  vision.  This  philosophy  opens,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  grand  questions  of  physiological  psychology;  and,  on  the 
other,  the  profound  questions  of  transcendental  theology.  .  .  . 

"  In  demonstrating  the  independent  entity  of  the  soul,  which 
can,  even  while  in  the  body,  transcend  the  limits  of  sensation 
and  hold  converse  with  immortals,  Spiritualism  destroys  the 
sensationalism  of  English  philosophers,  the  subjective  atheism 
of  Spencer,  and  the  materialism  of  the  French  encyclopedists ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  it  corrects  the  too  ideal  tendencies 
of  Hegelianism  in  Germany,  and  holds  it  to  account  on  that 
middle  ground  of  philosophy  where  sense  and  soul  touch  and 
unite. 

"The  idealism  of  Berkeley,  which  reduced  all  the  external 
world  to  a  mere  phantasm  of  sensation ;  to  a  mere  picture  on 
the  nerves  of  the  body,  whose  cause  was  for  ever  shut  away  from 
our  reach ;  and  the  pantheism  of  Spinoza,  or  more  especially  of 
his  one-sided  disciples,  —  here  find  their  grave,  in  common  with 
that  subjective  idealism  of  Spencer,  Sir  William  Hamilton,  and 
Mr.  Mansel,  which  is  of  late  so  much  in  vogue.  Sensationalism 
has  a  half-truth  ;  idealism  and  pantheism  have  a  half-truth ;  but 
so  long  as  each  claimed  to  be  the  only  truth,  all  were  false  in  a 
double  sense,  and  blind. 

"The  truth  in  each  of  these  schools  is  revived,  emancipated, 

20 


306  PLANCHETTE. 

and  united  in  the  spiritual  philosophy.  Idealism  would  re 
create  the  external  world  from  the  depths  of  unaided  con 
sciousness.  Sensationalism  would  create  consciousness  from 
the  external  world  as  a  mere  material  force,  which  goes  out  like 
any  other  fire  in  the  ashes  of  its  body.  But  Spiritualism,  in 
demonstrating  the  dual  nature  of  man,  in  showing  that  we  live 
in  two  worlds  at  once,  and  are  vitally  related  to  each,  having 
powers  that  lay  hold  on  the  forces  and  verities  of  both  at  once, 
unites  in  itself  the  truth  of  each,  unmixed  with  the  errors  of 
either. 

"Does  Mr.  Spencer  tell  us  that  spirit  is  'utterly  inscrutable'? 
The  spiritual  philosophy  answers,  '  Man  is  a  spirit  per  se,  and 
can  cognize  spiritual  beings  of  the  immortal  life;  has  done  so; 
has  identified  the  persons  of  the  departed ;  your  theory  must  be 
false.'  Does  Mr.  Mansel  set  '  limits  to  thought'?  The  spiritual 
philosophy  pulls  them  down,  and  opens  again  the  fair  fields  of 
spiritual  naturalism  to  the  contemplation  of  thinkers.  Does 
Sir  William  Hamilton  call  the  idea  of  God  a  '  revelation '?  The 
spiritual  philosophy  answers,  'Yes;'  but  a  'revelation  made 
through  those  natural  powers  and  faculties  of  the  soul,  which 
connect  us  with  the  soul  of  the  world,  and  which  transcend  the 
physical  senses,  as  the  immortal  transcends  the  mortal  life  of 
man,  and  not  by  any  means  a  supernatural  revelation,  made  in 
a  book.' 

"The  great  contest  in  philosophy  has  been  and  is  waged 
over  '  method.'  The  sensational  philosophy  reasons  only  induc 
tively  ;  from  external  facts  toward  their  causes.  Idealism  reasons 
only  deductively  from  ideas  which  it  finds  in  the  reason,  toward 
their  effects.  But  neither  method  can  give  any  facts  or  ideas  to 
begin  with.  Both  facts  and  ideas  are  assumed  in  the  outset  by 
both  methods.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  neither  method  is  alone, 
or  often  together,  full  and  complete.  How  do  we  find  the  facts 
and  ideas  to  start  with,  if,  after  all,  we  cannot  get  our  facts  by 
induction;  for  induction  begins  with  facts  as  given,  and  cannot 
proceed  one  inch,  except  on  the  assumption  of  facts  from  which 
to  reason  and  infer?  Induction  cannot  set  out  from  zero  and 


DISCOURSE    OF    A    MEDIUM.  307 

reason  to  entity.  It  must  begin  with  some  previously  known 
and  acknowledged  facts  or  principles.  It  cannot  discover  by 
induction  the  original  facts  from  which  induction  can  alone 
set  out. 

"  So  with  deduction  :  it  sets  out  with  ideas  which  it  finds  in 
the  mind.  It  cannot  descend  to  effects  from  zero,  any  more 
than  induction  can  rise  from  zero  to  causes.  Neither  can  origi 
nate  its  facts  or  its  principles.  Both  are  dependent  for  their 
respective  data  on  some  power  superior  to  either  method  of 
reasoning.  These  methods  are  both  second-hand  processes ; 
neither  is  aboriginal,  primary.  Now,  what  is  that  power  which 
gives  us  the  facts  on  the  one  side,  and  the  principles  on  the 
other  from  which  to  set  out?  Whatever  it  be,  it  is  self-evidently 
superior  to  either  induction  or  deduction ;  for  on  its  directly 
given  data  both  methods  proceed.  Both  methods  are  then 
secondary;  both  are  the  mere  mechanics  of  that  power  which 
gives  the  data  to  begin  with.  Hence  reasoning  is  only  that 
process  by  which  things  and  principles  are  accounted  for  and 
related,  but  never  authorized. 

"  There  is,  hence,  the  necessity  for  some  power  that  is  abo 
riginal,  direct,  authoritative,  and  supreme,  implied  by  both 
methods  of  reasoning.  This  power  must,  therefore,  be  in 
direct  contact  with  both  the  facts  and  the  ideas  with  which 
these  two  methods  begin,  and  on  which  they  depend.  This 
power  can  be  nothing  less  than  intuition.  Intuition  is  the 
direct  and  immediate  perception  of  facts  on  the  one  side,  and 
of  principles  on  the  other.  No  reasoning  can  begin  upon  any 
other  ground.  The  data  of  all  reasoning  is  given  at  first  hand 
in  intuition  alone.  Hence  intuition  is  the  only  power  of  dis 
covery.  When  it  reveals  the  external  facts,  it  acts  through  the 
external  senses;  when  it  reveals  ideas,  principles,  laws,  it  acts 
through  the  soul. 

"And  here  comes  to  view  the  spiritual  method  of  philosophy. 
It  is  direct,  intuitive,  aboriginal,  authoritative,  and  supreme. 
All  possible  speculation  rests  at  last  on  its  revelations.  I  say 
'  revelations.'  When  we  see  the  external  forms  of  the  outward 


308  PLANCHETTE. 

world,  a  revelation  is  made;  when  we  discover  an  idea,  another 
revelation  is  made.  '  Revelation  '  is  the  great  aboriginal  fact  in 
all  mentality.  We  no  more  'will  to  see  the  world  than  we  will 
to  be.  We  do  not  come  to  know  that  we  are,  or  that  any  thing 
else  is  by  induction  any  more  than  we  will  to  be,  by  induction. 
The  consciousness  of  the  existence  of  the  me,  and  of  the  not  me, 
is  as  direct  a  revelation  as  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  These  are 
the  great  aboriginal  intuitions  of  all  souls,  and  form*  the  ground 
of  all  possible  reasoning.  Now,  if  it  be  possible  to  get  the 
greater,  it  is  possible  to  get  the  lesser  facts  of  existence  by 
such  aboriginal  intuition,  —  direct  'revelation.'  Indeed,  all  the 
contents  of  existence  are  included  in  this  primal  intuition  of 
existence  itself.  And  if  the  existence  itself  can  be  thus  given 
intuitively,  directly,  and  with  supreme  authority,  so  can  all  the 
contents  of  existence  be  so  given. 

"  Hence  the  spiritual  method  of  philosophy.  All  perceptions 
by  the  senses  are  direct  intuitions  of  all  that  sensation  reveals 
or  perceives.  Sensation  may  be,  and  doubtless  is,  limited  to 
the  phenomenal  alone;  but  if  so,  its  intuition  of  phenomena  is 
direct  and  authoritative.  So  spiritual  intuition  perceives  directly 
and  at  first  hand  the  eternal  laws  and  ideas  which  rule  the  whole 
phenomenal  empire  of  the  world.  Hence  all  reasoning  is  de 
pendent  on  intuition  as  the  great  revelator  of  all  things  and 
principles.  It  is  the  supreme  voice  of  the  absolute  in  the  soul 
of  man ;  or,  rather,  it  is  trie  world,  the  universe,  of  both  phe 
nomena  and  power  arisen  into  self-cognition.  The  conscious 
ness  of  man  is  the  self-cognition  of  the  universe. 

"Axioms  of  mathematics  are  self-revelations  of  eternal  ideas, 
— '  self-evident  truths.'  They  are  eternal.  Axioms  are  given  as 
eternal,  and  as  absolute.  They  admit  of  no  contradiction,  no 
limitation,  and  no  suspension.  They  are  absolute  authority. 
Other  axioms  have  the  same  character.  Axioms  are  not  infer 
ences,  not  deductions.  They  do  not  depend  upon  logic;  logic 
depends  upon  them.  All  reasoning  derives  from,  not  gives  au 
thority  to,  them.  Hence  these  are  intuitions  of  eternal  princi 
ples.  Now,  if  the  greater  can  be  given  by  intuition,  so  can  the 


DISCOURSE    OF    A    MEDIUM.  309 

less.  And  hence  the  spiritual  method  opens  anew  the  royal 
road  to  knowledge.  Clairvoyance  is  a  practical  proof  of  the 
feasibility  and  utility  of  the  intuitive  method.  If  the  uneducated 
shoemaker's  apprentice,  blindfolded  and  paralyzed,  can,  through 
supersenuous  channels,  inact  the  great  facts  of  science  (as  has 
been  proved  and  tested  in  this  country  often),  then  we  have  a 
practical  and  experimental  proof  and  exhibition  of  the  reality 
and  truth  of  the  spiritual  method  of  philosophy. 

"Mere  metaphysical  argument  alone  is  inadequate  to  reach 
the  masses.  But  when  to  spiritual  metaphysics  we  add  the  ex 
perimental  illustration  of  the  transcendent  nature  and  relations 
of  the  soul,  we  secure  both  sides  of  the  required  demonstration. 
And  when  on  the  top  of  all  this,  we  place  the  wonderful  facts 
of  spiritual  intercourse,  our  philosophy  becomes  irresistibly 
demonstrative.  It  recognizes  the  intuitive  method  as  authority 
in  revelation,  and  the  inductive  and  deductive  methods  as  the 
two  wings  of  demonstration.  The  first  reveals  ideas  and  facts, — 
the  original  data  of  all  philosophy.  The  last  two  show  the 
logic  and  relations  of  those  data. 

"  Hence  the  completeness  of  the  spiritual  philosophy.  Does 
sensationalism  ask  for  '  facts'?  The  experimental  branch  of  our 
philosophy  gives  them  in  abundance.  Does  idealism  demand 
ideas  and  deductions?  The  ideal  side  gives  them  at  first  hand. 
Does  pantheism  demand  recognition  of  the  Infinite  Presence 
and  Power?  Intuition  gives  us  the  direct  revelation  thereof  in 
the  very  substance  of  the  soul  and  its  relations. 

"It  is  vain  for  Mr.  Spencer,  Mr.  Mansel,  and  others,  to  deny 
to  us  any  absolute  knowledge,  or  any  knowledge  of  the  absolute. 
The  '  absolute'  of  Spencer,  Mansel,  and  others,  is  nonentity  de 
fined  as  Being.  This  is  evident  from  Mr.  Spencer's  summary 
of  the  argument  for  the  '  relativity  of  all  knowledge.'  He  says, 
'  We  have  seen  how,  from  the  very  necessity  of  thinking  in  re 
lations,  it  follows  that  the  relative  itself  is  inconceivable  except 
as  related  to  a  real  non-relative.'  We  reply,  A  '  non-relative1 
related  to  the  '  relative'  is  a  contradiction  in  terms,  and  an  im 
possible  conception.  Mr.  Spencer's  '  non-relative,'  is  used  to 


3IO  PLANCHETTE. 

mean  the  '  absolute,'  '  the  infinite,  —  the  real  reality  underlying 
all  appearances.''  And  yet  it  is  said  to  be  out  of  all  relations,  — 
'  non-relative.'  And  yet  the  relative  itself  is  conceived  as  de 
pendent  for  its  conception  on  its  relations  to  this  '  non-rela 
tive.' 

"If  this  is  not  self-contradiction  with  a  vengeance,  what  can 
be?  Mr.  Spencer's  'non-relative'  is  nonentity  defined  as  the 
'  absolute,'  '  the  infinite,'  —  a  '  real  reality  underlying  all  appear 
ances.'  Can  the  '  infinite,'  '  real  reality,'  be  destitute  of  all  rela 
tions?  It  is  absurd.  The  very  argument  for  the  '  relativity  of 
all  knowledge,'  destroys  itself;  for  the  very  idea  '  relative,'  is 
acknowledged  to  be  dependent  on  its  relation  to  the  '  absolute.' 
The  characteristics  of  Mr.  Spencer's  '  non-relative  '  are  those  of 
zero.  The  '  infinite'  of  Nature  and  of  the  soul  are  not  identical 
with  this  '  absolute  '  of  Spencer.  He  is  therefore  wrong.  An 
'infinite  reality  underlying  all '  things  must  be  the  aboriginal 
esse  of  the  entire  universe,  the  one  indivisible  substance  and 
power  of  all  forms  and  all  force.  Hence  it  is  in  contact  with  the 
soul,  with  the  mind.  Nay :  it  is  the  substance  of  both  body 
and  soul. 

"  And  who  shall  then  attempt  to  set  limits  to  our  knowledge? 
No  man  can  do  it,  until  he  can  comprehend  the  infinite  possibili 
ties  of  eternal  progress;  until  he  can  take  the  latitude  and  longi 
tude  of  all  possible  truth  ;  until  he  can  measure  all  the  possible 
developments  of  immortal  ages  ;  until  he  can  rise  out  of  his  own 
limitations  to  a  realm  where  he  can  embrace  and  outline  the 
whole  future  career  of  the  immortal  intellect  of  man.  And  this 
is  self-evidently  impossible. 

"The  very  ground  on  which  Mr.  Spencer  plants  himself  to 
prove  the  '  relativity  of  all  knowledge,'  is,  by  his  own  claims, 
and  in  his  own  words,  '  the  ever-present  sense  of  real  existence? 
He  confounds  the  idea  of  some  knowledge  of  the  '  infinite,'  with 
infinite  knowledge.  His  whole  system  is  that  of  subjective 
atheism ;  or,  if  you  choose,  of  objective  idealism.  He  plants 
us  in  an  ontological  vacuum  between  the  objective  world  and  the 
'absolute' Nature;  and  after  granting  the  clear  conception  of 


DISCOURSE    OF   A   MEDIUM.  311 

the  one,  and  the  'ever-present  sense'  of  the  other,  denies  us  any 
absolute  knowledge  of  either. 

"  He  attempts,  it  is  true,  to  save  religion ;  but  he  saves  it  to  us 
as  the  pursuit  of  an  '  utterly  inscrutable  power,'  of  whose  nature 
and  character,  whether  divine  or  devilish,  we  can  never  have  any 
knowledge  whatsoever.  And  yet  he  bids  us  worship  this  '  utterly 
unknowable  power.'  What  is  that  religion  good  for  that  bids  us 
worship  'we  know  not  what'?  It  may  be  deity,  it  may  be  devil. 
And  are  we  to  be  told  that,  though  religion  can  never  rise  to  the 
idea  of  divinity,  can  never  know  there  is  a  God,  —  in  other  words, 
can  never  have  a  philosophy  of  religion, — we  must  still  push  on 
after  both  deity  and  a  religious  philosophy?  Is  this  the  way  re 
ligion,  the  grandest  pursuit  of  man,  is  to  be  saved  to  the  nine 
teenth  century?  What  is  this  but  atheism  under  another  name? 
What  is  the  difference  to  me,  whether  it  be  proved  that  I  can 
never  know  God,  or  that  there  is  no  knowable  God  ?  Is  it  not  all 
one  as  to  worship?  Can  we  be  rationally  called  upon  to  worship 
utter  inscrutability  under  pretence  that  it  may  be  divine  for 
aught  we  know?  To  such  absurdities  has  modern  sensational 
ism  and  inductive  philosophy  driven  itself. 

"But  Spiritualism  relegates  man  to  the  aboriginal  sources  of 
all  inspiration  and  all  revelation.  It  plants  itself  on  the  demon 
stration  of  the  spiritual  entity  and  supersensuous  relations  of 
the  soul.  It  illustrates  its  philosophy  in  its  experiments.  It 
rises  inductively  from  this  demonstration  to  the  divine  idea,  — 
to  God ;  or,  starting  with  this  divine  idea,  reasons  deductively 
down  to  the  idea  of  the  soul  and  its  immortality.  Starting  with 
the  fact  that  man  is  a  spirit  per  se,  it  rises  to  the  inference  that 
all  aboriginal  substance  may  be  spirit,  per  se.  Or,  starting  with 
the  idea  of  God  as  infinite  spirit,  shows  that  there  is  no  room 
for  'matter'  as  aboriginal  substance  in  the  universe.  If  one 
admits  the  idea  of  infinite  spirit,  —  God,  —  he  cannot  escape  the 
great  spiritual  idea  that  there  is  but  one  substance  in  the  uni 
verse  ;  viz.,  Spirit.  If  one  start  with  the  idea  of  the  spiritual 
entity  of  the  soul,  he  lands  in  the  same  conclusion.  Both  paths 
lead  to  the  same  great  idea.  And  when  we  perceive  the  unity  of 


PLANCHETTE. 

nature ;  when  we  regard  the  mutual  transformability  of  bodies, 
and  of  all  forces ;  when  we  discover  in  the  analyzed  sunbeam 
and  starbeam  the  elements  which  have  been  precipitated  and 
hardened  into  rocks  and  coal  and  iron  and  other  metals ;  when 
we  behold  everywhere  the  reign  of  the  same  invisible  power, 
ever  changing  in  form,  but  ever  the  same  in  esse,  —  the  soul  is 
carried,  as  on  the  tide  of  inspiration,  up  to  the  same  great  idea 
that  spirit  '  is  all,  and  in  all.' 

"  Our  philosophy  shows  that  man  is  made  of  the  same  stuff  as 
the  universe  is.  Hence,  his  fraternity  with  all  things.  For  how 
could  man  receive  life,  power,  substance,  light,  heat,  gravitation, 
electricity,  beauty,  and  wisdom,  if  he  were  not  composed  at  bot 
tom  of  substance  and  power  and  law,  one  and  identical  with 
these?  All  substance  and  power  is  one,  or  no  universe  could 
arise  out  of  them.  Hence  man  is  the  autocrat  of  creation. 
He  carries  sheathed  within  his  flesh  the  potent  secrets  of  all 
things. 

"And  here,  it  will  be  seen,  is  a  religious  philosophy,  which 
carries  with  it  all  the  causes  of  ultimate  success.  In  its  view,  all 
creation  is  trembling  with  the  tides  of  divine  life.  Hence  its 
high  estimate  of  true  science.  Can  science  discover  a  truth  our 
philosophy  will  not  consecrate  and  use?  No;  for  science  is 
only  the  study  of  modes  and  symbols  of  divine  life  and  action. 
Spiritualism  is  the  only  religion  on  earth,  that  can  '  have  science 
for  symbol  and  illustration.'  It  is  the  mathematics  and  ethics 
of  eternal  law.  It  is  true  it  makes  religion  natural;  but  then  it 
makes  nature  spiritual  and  divine.  It  does  not  degrade  God  to 
'  matter; '  it  elevates  '  matter  '  to  spirit.  It  does  not  reduce  reli 
gion  to  'material'  science;  it  elevates  science  to  the  divine  busi 
ness  of  justifying,  explaining,  and  demonstrating  religion.  .  .  . 
It  is  spiritual  power  alone  that  thus  renews  the  world.  The 
meaning  of  spiritual  is  real,  in  our  philosophy. 

"  Hence  the  spiritual  idea  of  man  :  man  is  nature,  physical 
and  spiritual,  essential  and  phenomenal,  gone  up  into  organic, 
self-conscious  moral  unity  and  volition.  He  has  a  sense  for 
each  external  phenomenon,  and  a  spiritual  faculty  for  all  eternal 


MORALITY    OF   SPIRITS.  313 

verities.     It  was  spiritual  inspiration  which  moved  the  poet  to 
write,  — 

'  Even  here  I  feel 

Among  these  mighty  things,  that  as  I  am, 

I  am  akin  to  God ;  that  I  am  part 

Of  the  use  universal,  and  can  grasp 

Some  portion  of  that  reason  in  the  which 

The  whole  is  ruled  and  founded ;  that  I  have 

A  spirit  nobler  in  its  cause  and  end, 

Lovelier  in  order,  greater  in  its  powers, 

Than  all  these  bright  and  swift  immensities  I ' 

"As  the  solid  earth  is  but  precipitated  sunbeams,  so  the  na 
ture  of  man  is  organized  spirit.  The  body  is  but  the  secreted 
shell  of  the  soul.  ...  A  day  will  come  to  every  soul,  when  into 
the  channels  of  its  purified  being  will  pour  the  love,  the  truth, 
and  the  beauty  of  the  world.  To  be  passive  to  the  spirit  of  na 
ture,  is  the  secret  of  genius,  and  the  path  of  salvation.  Thus 
does  the  spiritual  philosophy  revive  the  hopes,  and  strengthen 
the  soul  of  man." 

We  translate  the  following  from  the  "  Livre  des  Esprits  "  of 
Allan  Kardec :  — 

"  The  morality  of  the  superior  order  of  spirits  is  substantially 
that  of  Christ  in  this  evangelical  maxim  :  Do  unto  others  as  you 
would  have  them  do  unto  you ;  that  is  to  say,  do  good,  and  not 
evil.  In  this  principle,  man  may  find  the  universal  rule  of  con 
duct  for  his  slightest  acts. 

"They  teach  us  that  egoism,  pride,  sensuality,  are  passions 
which  bring  us  nearer  to  the  animal  nature  in  attaching  us  to 
matter;  that  he  who  here  below  detaches  himself  from  matter 
by  contempt  of  merely  worldly  futilities,  and  by  love  of  the 
neighbor,  draws  nearer  to  a  spiritual  nature;  that  each  one  of 
us  ought  to  render  himself  useful  according  to  the  faculties  and 
the  means  which  God  has  put  into  our  hands  for  proving  us ; 
that  the  strong  and  the  influential  owe  support  and  protection  to 
the  feeble,  for  he  who  abuses  his  power  to  oppress  his  fellow- 
creatures,  violates  the  law  of  God. 

"They  teach,  finally,  that  in  the  world  of  spirits,  as  nothing 


314  PLANCHETTE. 

can  be  concealed,  the  hypocrite  will  be  unmasked,  and  all  his 
turpitudes  exposed ;  that  to  the  state  of  inferiority  and  of  supe 
riority  of  spirits  are  attached  pains  and  enjoyments  which  are 
unknown  upon  earth.  But  they  also  teach  that  there  are  no 
faults  that  are  irremissible,  and  that  cannot  be  effaced  by  expia 
tion.  Man  finds  the  means  of  remission  and  improvement  in 
the  different  existences  that  afford  him  an  opportunity  to  advance 
according  to  his  desire  and  his  efforts,  in  the  way  of  progress, 
and  towards  the  perfection  which  is  his  ever-receding  goal." 

In  an  able  series  of  essays,  entitled  "What  is  Religion?" 
Mr.  Shorter  shows  the  fallacy  of  the  notion  that  Spiritualism  is 
a  new  religion ;  or,  indeed,  a  religion  at  all.  He  shows  that 
religion  is  not  the  mere  acceptance  of  other  people's  beliefs; 
that  belief,  simply  as  such,  and  separate  from  the  moral  element 
of  faith,  or,  in  other  words,  mere  opinion  about  religion,  no 
more  makes  a  man  religious,  than  his  opinion  about  shoe- 
making  makes  him  a  shoemaker;  that  history  is  not  religion; 
that  literature  is  not  religion  ;  and  that  morality  simply  is  not 
religion  ;  for  though  religion  comprehends  morality,  as  the 
larger  comprehends  the  less,  yet  morality  may  be  practised 
from  such  motives  as  not  to  include  religion. 

But,  contends  Mr.  Shorter,  if  Spiritualism  be  not  religion,  it 
leads  up  thereto  ;  it  evidences,  illustrates,  confirms,  enforces 
it;  and  gives  certainty  to  what  in  many  minds  had  become 
doubtful.  It  brings  heaven  and  hell  sensibly  nearer  and  more 
real  to  us  as  states  of  being,  the  necessary  consequence  of  what 
we  have  been  and  are,  and  so  opens  out  to  us  broader,  grander, 
nobler  views  of  man's  nature  and  destiny  than  is  possible  to 
those  to  whom  nature  and  the  present  life  are  all ;  or,  than  is 
common  when  religion  consists  mainly  in  the  acceptance  of 
tradition  and  dogma,  which  are  held  but  as  the  accident  of  edu 
cation  and  geographical  position. 

It  shows  men,  to  use  the  words  of  Henry  More,  the  Platonist 
(1659),  that  "  no  other  Nemesis  should  follow  them  than  what 
they  themselves  lay  the  train  of." 

While   Spiritualism  corroborates  and  elucidates   the  genuine 


LAW    OF    MORAL    GRAVITATION.  315 

truths  of  religion,  it  also  exposes  and  corrects  many  of  the 
delusions  and  mistakes  into  which  men  have  blundered  in  their 
speculations  on  matters  associated  with  it.  Mr.  Shorter  in 
stances,  as  an  illustration,  the  old  controversy  on  which  theolo 
gians  are  still  divided,  and,  so  long  as  they  move  only  in  the  old 
ruts,  are  likely  to  remain  so,  —  the  question,  whether  at  death 
the  soul  retains  its  active,  conscious  powers,  and  at  once  enters 
on  its  new  life;  or,  whether  it  only  wakes  to  consciousness  to  be 
re-united  to  its  resuscitated  body  at  some  period  unknown,  when 
the  great  assize  of  all  humanity  is  to  be  held,  and  the  affairs  of 
the  world  finally  wound  up. 

Now  it  needs  no  argument  to  show,  that,  if  there  be  any  truth 
in  Spiritualism,  there  can  be  none  in  the  latter  of  these  two 
views.  If  the  departed  still  perceive,  remember,  think,  love, 
suffer,  and  enjoy,  and  communicate  with  us,  it  must  be  evident 
that  they  are  neither  in  their  graves,  nor  are  they  like  an  ante 
diluvian  toad  imbedded  in  a  coal  seam,  in  a  state  of  torpor  or 
suspended  animation ;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  in  the 
present  plenitude  of  their  life,  with  all  that  appertains  to  it. 

Religion,  then,  is  something  to  be  experienced  and  lived  :  it  is 
not  now  to  be  discovered  or  invented.  If  modern  Spiritualism 
dates  frpm  1847,  an^  constitutes  a  new  religion,  •wherein  is  it 
new  ?  What  is  there  in  religion  since  1847  that  there  was  not 
in  it  in  1846?  The  immortality  of  the  soul;  the  existence  of  a 
spirit-world  ;  the  manifestations  and  ministry  of  spirits,  and 
communion  with  them  ;  the  assurance  that  Divine  mercy 
and  spiritual  progression  are  not  limited  to  the  natural  world 
and  the  present  life;  that  the  future  retribution  is  not  arbitrary, 
penal,  and  vindictive,  but  the  inevitable  consequence  of  the  acts 
here  done  and  the  character  here  formed,  —  these  are  all  ideas 
of  the  old  world  and  of  the  old  faith. 

"Our  place  and  state,  our  condition  and  surroundings  in  the 
spirit-world  are  determined  by  a  law  of  moral  gravitation,  — 
the  attraction  of  spiritual  affinity.  Prudence,  even  at  its  best,  is 
not  religion.  To  set  down  that  feeling  as  religious,  which 
springs  from  a  fear  of  hell,  or  a  desire  to  secure  the  good  things 


PLANCHETTE. 

of  heaven,  is  to  degrade  the  ministry  of  religion.  To  inspire 
men  with  dread,  — to  supplement  the  jail  and  the  gallows, — 
this,  indeed,  were  hangman's  work  for  religion ;  and  scarce  less 
degrading  were  it  to  religion  to  employ  her  to  coax  men  (as 
children  are  coaxed  with  sugar-plums)  by  the  promise,  that  if 
they  will  but  be  good,  they  shall  certainly  hereafter  be  made 
very  comfortable  and  be  well  paid  for  it. 

"  It  is  a  terrible  and  mischievous  burlesque  of  religion  that 
would  thus  make  it  the  minister  to  human  selfishness,  provided 
only  that  it  be  a  little  more  subtle,  enlightened,  and  far-sighted 
than  ordinary,  and  coated  with  a  thin  varnish  of  sentiment. 
The  aim  of  religion  is  not  to  cultivate  selfishness  of  any  kind, 
not  to  disguise  it  under  fine  names  and  fair  pretences ;  but  to 
deliver  men  from  selfishness  of  every  sort  and  degree,  here  and 
everywhere,  now  and  at  all  times,  in  time  and  in  eternity. 
Especially  is  this  so  of  the  religion  of  Christ." 

By  self-denial,  by  unceasing  combat  against  evil,  by  prayer 
for  strength  to  do  and  to  suffer,  we  prepare  ourselves  for 
heaven,  —  not  to  sit  down  there  in  idle  beatitudes,  but  to  carry 
out  more  fully  the  ends  of  our  being  in  works  of  good  uses 
towards  all  creation.  We  go  there  to  work,  not  to  sit  supinely 
and  enjoy  a  flow  of  pleasure.  And  the  cost  we  are  paying  here 
daily  is  to  fit  us  for  the  work. 

"We  are  immortal,"  says  Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  "because, 
r.  Nature  ivas  made  to  develop  the  human  body ;  2.  The  human 
body  -was  made  to  develop  the  human  spirit ;  and,  3.  Every  spirit 
is  developed  and  organized  sufficiently  unlike  any  other  spirit*  or 
substance  in  the  universe,  to  maintain  its  individuality  throughout 
eternal  spheres. 

"Each  human  spirit  possesses  within  itself  an  eternal  affinity 
of  parts  and  powers  ;  which  affinity  there  exists  nothing  suffi 
ciently  superior  in  power  and  attraction  to  disturb,  disorganize, 
and  annihilate. 

"Death  is  but  the  local  or  final  development  of  a  succession 
of  specific  changes  in  the  corporeal  organism  of  man.  As  the 
death  of  the  germ  is  necessary  to  the  birth  or  development  of 


CREDIBILITY    OF    A    FUTURE    STATE.  317 

the  floiver,  so  is  the  death  of  man's  physical  body  an  indis 
pensable  precedent  and  indication  of  his  spiritual  birth  or  resur 
rection.  That  semi-unconscious  slumber  into  which  the  soul 
and  body  mutually  and  irresistibly  glide,  when  darkness  per 
vades  the  earth,  is  typical  of  death.  Sleep  is  but  death  unde 
veloped  ;  or,  in  other  words,  sleep  is  the  incipient  manifestation 
of  that  thorough  and  delightful  change,  which  is  the  glorious 
result  of  our  present  rudimental  existence.  Night  and  sleep 
correspond  to  physical  death;  but  the  brilliant  day  and  human 
wakefulness  correspond  to  spiritual  birth  and  individual  ele 
vation. 

"There  is  every  reason  why  man  should  rest,  with  regard  to 
life  and  death,  and  be  happy;  for  the  laws  of  nature  are  un 
changeable  and  complete  in  their  operations.  If  we  understand 
these  laws,  and  obey  them  on  the  earth,  it  is  positively  certain 
that  our  passage  from  this  sphere,  and  our  emergement  into  the 
spirit-country,  will  be  like  rolling  into  the  blissful  depths  of 
natural  sleep,  and  awakening  from  it,  to  gaze  upon,  and  to  dwell 
in,  a  more  congenial  and  harmonious  world." 

"As  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul,"  writes  Bianca  Mojon 
(who  died  in  Paris  in  1849),  "I  maintain  that  we  all  feel  it 
independently  of  revelation.  It  is  not  a  mathematical  cer 
tainty,  (?)  —  that  does  not  belong  to  moral  questions;  but  it  is 
precisely  a  moral  certainty.  Without  this  belief,  there  is  neither 
religion,  charity,  nor  possible  virtue.  Not  that  I  believe  those 
who  deny  immortality  to  be  incapable  of  virtue ;  but  I  maintain 
that  they  are  actuated  by  a  confused  feeling  of  immortality, 
which,  in  spite  of  every  thing,  works  in  them.  Their  opinion 
is  but  a  negative  doubt,  and  the  want  of  an  intellectual  sense. 
I  conjure  you,  then,  with  tears  in  my  eyes,  not  to  withhold  this 
support  and  consolation  from  your  children.  Do  not  throw 
them  into  the  void  and  desolation  of  metaphysical  doubt." 

The  credibility  of  a  future  state  of  existence  is  fully  suffi 
cient  to  become  a  practical  principle,  however  low  the  evidence 
may  appear ;  for,  at  the  very  lowest,  -we  cannot  prove  the  nega 
tive.  Death,  even  to  our  senses,  is  not  an  annihilation,  but 
only  a  new  combination  of  matter. 


318  PLANCHETTE. 

At  a  convention  of  Spiritualists  in  Cleveland  in  1867,  Mr. 
Burtis,  of  Rochester,  an  aged  man,  is  reported  to  have  said, 
"I  am  hardly  nineteen  years  old.  It  is  about  that  time  since 
these  tiny  raps  came  to  my  house,  and  awakened  me  to  a  con 
sciousness  not  only  of  the  life  beyond,  but  of  this  life  also.  I 
had  been  here  many  years,  but  it  was  only  from  that  time 
I  began  to  live." 

How  well  does  this  saying  of  the  old  man  confirm  these  words 
of  Jean  Paul  Richter:  "A  man  may,  for  twenty  years,  believe 
the  immortality  of  the  soul ;  in  the  one-and-twentieth,  in  some 
great  moment,  he  for  the  first  time  discovers  with  amazement 
the  rich  meaning  of  this  belief,  the  warmth  of  this  naphtha- 
well  !  " 

"  Christianity,  when  rightly  understood,"  says  Mr.  H.  J. 
Slack,  "  presents  itself  as  the  synthesis  of  all  that  heathen 
times  endeavored  to  reach.  It  is  a  purification  and  comple 
tion  of  the  wisdom  of  the  past,  not  an  antagonism,  as  some 
would  teach." 

In  the  narrative  by  Plato  of  the  last  days  of  Socrates,  his 
friend  Crito  is  represented  as  asking  him  the  question,  "  How 
and  where  shall  we  bury  you?"  Socrates  rebukes  the  phrase 
instantly:  "Bury  me,"  he  answers,  "in  any  way  you  please,  if 
you  can  catch  me  to  bury.  .  .  .  Say  rather,  Crito,  say,  if  you 
love  me,  where  shall  you  bury  my  body;  and  I  will  answer 
you,  Bury  it  in  any  manner  and  in  any  place  you  please." 

But  how  can  a  soul  issue  from  the  lifeless  body  without  our 
seeing  it?  asks  the  skeptic.  To  which  it  may  be  replied,  that  to 
appeal  to  sense  to  prove  the  non-agency,  and  therefore  the  non- 
existence  of  an  object  not  perceptible  by  sense,  is  hardly  sound 
logic. 

"  When  the  materialist  argues,"  says  Sir  Benjamin  Brodie, 
"that  we  know  nothing  of  mind  except  as  being  dependent  on 
material  organization,  I  turn  his  argument  against  him,  and 
say  that  the  existence  of  my  own  mind  is  the  only  thing  of 
which  I  have  any  positive  and  actual  knowledge." 

The  Catholic  Church  admits  the  facts  of  Spiritualism.     Re- 


CATHOLIC    TESTIMONY.  319 

cently  in  New  York,  Father  Hecker,  an  eminent  Catholic  divine, 
declared  that  "with  the  truth  underlying  Spiritualism  there  is 
no  issue,  so  far  as  the  Catholic  Church  is  concerned.  It  has 
ever  been  a  household  affair  in  the  Church."  As  to  the  character 
of  the  manifestations,  he  believed  they  were  demoniacal  rather 
than  angelical.  "  The  Church,"  he  says,  "  has  an  order  of 
exorcists  to  combat  the  demoniac  influence,  and  provides  for 
the  use  of  the  exorcistic  ritual  whenever  the  signs  establishing 
demoniac  'possession  '  are  clearly  proved;  and,  singular  to  say, 
those  signs  are  the  identical  ones  now  used  by  Spiritualists  to 
prove  their  doctrine;  namely,  speaking  in  tongues  with  which 
the  medium  is  not,  in  the  natural  state,  conversant;  disclosing 
a  knowledge  of  things  hidden ;  showing  strength  above  that 
appertaining  to  the  years  and  constitution  of  the  medium. 
Spiritism,  doubtless,  has  intercourse  with  the  other  world,  but 
not  with  the  heavenly  portion  of  it. 

"No  one  who  reads  can  doubt  that  there  has  ever  been  an 
intercourse  between  the  human  race  and  the  spirits  of  the  other 
world.  This  is  the  most  deep,  the  most  mysterious  instinct  of 
the  human  soul.  And  there  is  nothing  connected  with  this  that 
shocks  us.  Shakespeare,  the  great  poet  of  the  heart,  introduces 
the  ghost  in  '  Hamlet'  in  order  to  corroborate,  as  it  were,  the 
theory  that  the  spirits  of  the  departed  are  our  familiars  still. 
Socrates  believed  that  he  saw  and  conversed  with  his  familiar 
spirit.  So  strong  is  the  belief  on  these  points,  that  the  great 
Dr.  Johnson  avowed  that  he  would  not  maintain  that  the  dead 
were  seen  no  more,  against  the  concurrent  testimony  of  the 
world." 

The  theory  that  the  modern  spiritual  phenomena  proceed, 
without  exception,  from  fallen  spirits  or  devils,  has  been  urged 
by  several  learned  writers,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant.  The 
"Dublin  Review,"  the  great  organ  of  Catholic  theology  in  Ire 
land,  has  an  important  article  in  its  issue  for  October,  1867,  in 
which  it  admits  the  phenomena,  but  pronounces  them  infernal. 
It  quotes  from  a  work  by  Father  Perrone,  published  at  Ratisbon 
in  1866,  in  which  that  learned  ecclesiastic  gives  a  selection  from 


32O  PLANCHETTE. 

the  names  of  several  eminent  persons,  lay  and  clerical ;  among 
the  latter,  Lacordaire,  Sibour  (the  late  archbishop  of  Paris),  the 
late  Cardinal  Gousset,  and  others,  on  whose  minds  a  full  con 
viction  of  the  genuineness  of  the  spiritual  phenomena  had  been 
wrought.  The  writer  in  the  "Dublin  Review"  remarks  as  fol 
lows  in  regard  to  these  phenomena  :  — 

"  Among  men  of  keen  and  cultivated  minds  they  were  at  first 
received,  not  only  with  disbelief,  but  with  laughter  and  derision  : 
they  were  rejected  as  untrue,  not  because  not  proven,  but  because 
incapable  of  proof,  because  they  were  impossible;  and,  indeed, 
impossible  they  are,  as  we  shall  see,  to  mere  human  power  and 
skill.  Among  the  characteristics  of  the  world  in  modern  times, 
a  tendency  to  believe  in  the  preternatural  most  certainly  can  not 
be  reckoned.  The  phenomena  of  magnetism  and  spiritism  at 
least  appear  preternatural.  The  predisposition  was  dead  against 
accepting  them  :  it  was  predicted  that,  before  the  generation  that 
witnessed  their  rise  had  died  out,  they  would  have  disappeared 
and  been  forgotten.  Well,  years  have  rolled  on;  and  men  who 
formerly  would  not  without  impatience  read  or  listen  to  the  ac 
counts  of  these  phenomena  (the  present  writer  was  one  of  these), 
had  at  length  been  led  to  examine  what  was  making  such  a  noise 
in  the  world,  and  from  mature,  and  for  a  time  prejudiced,  exam 
ination,  have  been  led  to  conviction.  In  this  way  have  been 
brought  round  several  of  the  ablest  and  most  learned  men  in 
Europe,  Catholic  theologians,  physicians,  and  philosophers  ;  and 
others,  Catholic,  Protestant,  and  free-thinking.  Authority  does 
not  necessarily,  nor  even  generally,  prove  an  opinion ;  in  a  mat 
ter  of  mere  opinion,  the  most  inquiring  and  cautious  men  may 
be  greatly  deceived,  and  have  been  so  deceived.  But  here  there 
is  question  of  facts  and  of  the  testimony  of  the  senses ;  of  facts 
sensible  to  the  sight,  the  hearing,  the  touch ;  of  facts  and  testi 
monies  repeated  over  and  over  again,  beyond  the  possibility  of 
calculation,  in  the  greater  part  of  Europe  and  America,  and  re 
corded  year  after  year  down  to  the  present  day.  It  is  quite  im 
possible  that  about  such  facts  such  a  cloud  of  such  witnesses 
should  be  all  deceived." 


DIABOLICAL    AGENCY.  321 

In  regard  to  the  question,  By  what  agency  are  these  phenom 
ena  produced?  our  reviewer  condenses  very  closely  the  author 
whom  he  follows.  The  various  hypotheses  put  forward  are  ex 
amined  seriatim,  until  certain  conclusions  (given  in  the  form  of 
propositions)  are  reached.  "  His  first  proposition  is,  that  though 
some-  of  the  physiological  phenomena  of  animal  magnetism,  som 
nambulism  and  Spiritualism,  viewed  in  themselves  and  apart 
from  accompanying  adjuncts,  may  be  ascribed  to  material  nat 
ural  causes,  most  of  them,  or  the  whole  taken  in  the  aggregate, 
can  by  no  means  be  referred  to  such  a  source ;  "  while  to  refer 
the  psychological  phenomena  to  unknown  laws  of  nature,  as 
some  do,  "is  extremely  unphilosophical  and  absurd;  for  they 
contradict  laws  of  nature  that  are  certain  and  universally  known. 
For  example,  it  is  a  law  of  our  nature  that  we  cannot  read  with 
our  eyes  closed  and  bandaged,  that  we  cannot  speak  a  language 
we  never  learned,"  &c. 

The  closing  propositions  affirm  that  good  angels  cannot  be 
the  cause  of  these  phenomena;  of  which  no  other  cause  can  be 
admitted,  save  bad  angels  or  devils.  On  these  propositions, 
Spiritualists,  according  to  their  peculiar  experiences,  are  likely 
to  join  issue,  and  to  contend  that  the  existence  of  bad  spirits, 
able  to  manifest  their  power  on  this  material  plane,  implies  the 
existence  of  good. 

But  it  is  something  to  have  proved  a  spirit,  whether  good  or 
bad.  If  the  modern  phenomena  have  done  this,  they  have  done 
what  many  minds  will  accept  as  the  evangel  that  will  lift  them 
from  utter  darkness  into  the  light  of  immortality.  Spiritualism 
will  not  be  disturbed  by  this  cry  of  diabolical  agency.  It  was 
raised  centuries  ago  against  one  of  whom  it  was  said,  he  "  spake 
as  never  man  spake."  To  the  learned  Sadducees  of  the  nine 
teenth  century,  it  will  be  a  great  step  out  of  the  fog  if  they  can 
be  made  to  believe  even  in  a  devil. 

"If,"  says  an  eloquent  writer,  "we  can  make  no  other  use  of 
these  lower  spirits,  —  these  stragglers  on  the  outer  boundaries 
of  the  spirit-world,  —  we  may  at  least  accept  them  as  adventur 
ous  travellers  seeking  a  new  world ;  accept  the  floating,  weeds  pn 

21 


322  PLANCHETTE. 

the  heaving  waves  —  as  signs  that  land  is  near.  But  how  any 
one,  with  God's  spirit  to  whisper  to  him,  and  nature  to  smile 
upon  him,  and  angels  in  the  flesh  to  love  him,  and  the  Bible 
open  before  him,  can  talk  in  this  way,  and  seek  to  frighten  us 
from  the  bright  path  now  opening  before  us,  with  the  smell  of  fire 
and  brimstone,  and  horrible  phantasmagoria  of  nothing  but  evil, 
I  cannot  tell.  For  myself,  I  am  resolved  to  go  on  ;  for,  at  pres 
ent,  I  have  seen  nothing  of  all  this.  The  fiends  have  not  mocked 
me,  but  the  angels  have  whispered  to  me ;  and  if  I  am  told  that 
they  are  only  the  children  of  falsehood  in  disguise,  still  I  will  go 
on.  Surely,  I  shall  come  up  with  the  outposts  of  the  Great  King 
before  long ;  for  surely  God  and  the  angels  are  not  altogether 
banished  from  a  world  where,  I  am  told,  the  spirits  of  evil  are 
allowed  to  lurk  for  prey !  " 

Cudworth,  one  of  the  noblest  of  the  English  Platonists  and 
Spiritualists,  writing  nearly  two  centuries  ago,  dismisses,  with 
something  like  scorn,  the  notion  that  evil  powers  can  ever  estab 
lish  any  evil  creed ;  for,  whatever  is  evil  or  immoral,  is  in  itself 
a  standing  proof  against  itself,  though  it  came  with  all  the 
power  of  miracles.  "Though  all  miracles  promiscuously,"  he 
says,  "  do  not  immediately  prove  the  existence  of  a  God,  nor 
confirm  a  prophet,  nor  whatever  doctrine,  yet  they  do  all  of 
them  evince  that  there  is  a  rank  of  invisible,  understanding 
beings,  superior  to  men,  which  the  atheist  cannot  deny." 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  followers  of  Swedenborg  give  a 
bad  name  to  modern  Spiritualism.  This  is  sometimes  instanced 
in  opposition,  inasmuch  as  Spiritualists  do  not  deny  the  limited 
seership  of  Swedenborg.  But  since  the  majority  of  skeptics  in 
regard  to  a  future  existence  would  be  relieved  of  their  unhappy 
doubts,  if  it  could  be  proved  to  them  that  there  is  any  thing  like 
spiritual  agency,  good  or  bad,  going  on  in  the  world,  would  it 
not  be  more  generous  in  our  Swedenborgian  friends  to  brave  the 
perils  of  an  investigation,  and  do  what  they  can  to  place  these 
phenomena,  significant  of  spirit,  on  an  impregnable  scientific 
basis?  For  our  own  part,  we  are  quite  willing  to  run  all  the  risk 
which  those  who  cry  " Pythonism  ! "  and  "Diablerie  ! "  brandish  to 


SWEDENBORG'S  CLAIMS.  323 

deter  us,  if  we  can  be  the  means  of  conveying  light  and  hope 
to  one  poor  human  mind,  groping  amid  the  mists  of  unbelief  on 
the  great  question  of  the  ages,  —  Does  the  conscious  individual 
ism  of  man  terminate  with  the  phenomenon  called  death  ? 

"The  relation  of  Swedenborgianism  to  Spiritualism,"  says 
William  White,  "is  a  story  for  a  humorist.  Years  ago,  when 
familiarity  with  spirits  was  rare,  Swedenborgians  used  to  snap 
up  and  treasure  every  scrap  of  supernatural  intelligence.  The 
grand  common  objection  to  Swedenborg  was  his  asserted  ac 
quaintance  with  angels  and  devils  :  it  seemed  an  insuperable 
obstacle  to  faith.  Many  of  the  early  Swedenborgians  had  won 
derful  private  experiences  to  relate.  Spirits  rapped  in  Noble's 
study.  Clowes  professed  himself  an  amanuensis  of  angels. 
Swedenborgians,  it  might  be  supposed,  were  ready  to  run  wild 
after  spirit  manifestations.  But  it  so  happened  that  clairvoy 
ants  and  mediums,  while  they  confirmed  in  general  Swedenborg's 
other-world  revelations,  contradicted  him  in  many  particulars, 
This  was  intolerable,  —  contradict  our  heavenly  messenger !  At 
once  the  old  line  of  argument  was  abandoned.  Nothing  was 
now  wickeder  than  converse  with  spirits.  Intercourse  with  them 
is  dangerous,  disorderly,  and  forbidden  by  the  Word !  True, 
Swedenborg  did  talk  with  spirits,  but  he  held  a  special  license 
from  the  Lord;  he  warned  us  of  its  perils;  and  his  example  is 
no  pretext  for  all,  and  sundry.  ...  In  return,  the  Spiritualists 
rank  Swedenborg  among  their  chief  mediums,  and  question  and 
adopt  his  testimony  at  discretion;  but  this  liberal  indifference 
only  adds  fire  to  the  jealousy  of  the  Swedenborgians,  and  fiercer 
and  thicker  fall  their  blows." 

With  regard  to  this  alleged  danger  of  spiritual  intercourse,  so 
much  insisted  on  by  the  followers  of  Swedenborg,  it  has  been 
well  replied  that,  were  the  danger  to  the  full  as  great  as  repre 
sented,  the  objection  would  still  be  insufficient.  We  have  only 
to  take  up  a  newspaper  to  be  convinced  that  it  is  very  dangerous 
to  hold  intercourse  with  men  in  the  natural  world ;  that  there 
are  here  plenty  of  spirits  who  lie,  and  cheat,  and  rob,  and  mur 
der.  Even  in  "respectable  society,"  in  "the  Church,"  and 


324  PLANCHETTE. 

among  its  ministers,  there  are  many  who  pretend  to  be  what 
they  are  not;  with  whom,  for  instance,  charity  is  often  on  the 
lip  while  bitterness  is  in  the  heart.  Are  we,  therefore,  to  aban 
don  society,  to.  abandon  religion,  to  shut  out  all  human  inter 
course?  God  forbid!  The  prosecution  of  natural  science  is,  we 
know,  attended  with  danger,  sometimes  with  destruction  :  are 
we  therefore  to  abandon  it?  Is  the  knowledge  of  spiritual  things 
less  important,  less  noble  than  of  material  things?  And  is  the 
fear  of  danger  the  most  noble  and  heroic  virtue  that  Christianity 
has  enshrined? 

\If,  as  Swedenborg  says,  spirits  associate  only  with  their  like, 
then  to  false  and  malignant  men  alone  is  there  danger  from  false 
and  malignant  spirits  :  those  who  earnestly  seek  truth  and  good 
ness  do  not  incur  it^\ 

The  literal  sense  of  the  teachings  of  the  Old  Testament  is 
generally  rejected  by  the  Swedenborgians  ;  but  it  is  now  thought 
convenient  to  adhere  to  it,  so  far  as  it  prohibits  spiritual  inter 
course.  That  must  be  permitted  to  Swedenborg  only.  But  will 
it  be  contended  that  all  which  was  prohibited  to  Jews  under  the 
old  dispensation,  is  prohibited  to  Christians  under  the  new? 

There  have  been  many  seers  who,  like  Swedenborg,  Thomas 
L.  Harris,  and  others,  have  claimed  infallibility;  but  in  reverent 
minds  this  very  claim  must  be  conclusive  against  them.  Swe 
denborg,  it  is  well  known,  relates  that,  while  he  sat  eating  in  a 
tavern  in  London,  the  Infinite  One  appeared  to  him  in  the  form 
of  a  man,  and  talked  quite  familiarly  with  him,  upbraiding  him 
for  eating  so  much,  &c. 

Probably  no  medium,  while  subjected  to  the  limitations  of  our 
earthly  condition,  can  be  implicitly  trusted  in  what  he  may  af 
firm  as  to  the  identity  of  a  spirit.  "  It  must  not  be  supposed," 
says  Delachambre,  author  of  a  "  System  of  the  Soul,"  published 
in  1665,  "that  the  form  of  the  soul  and  of  angels  is  fixed  and 
determinate,  like  that  of  solid  bodies  :  it  is  vague  and  change 
able  like  that  of  the  air  and  the  liquids,  which  assume  the  form 
of  all  the  solid  bodies  surrounding  them:  and  the  difference  is 
this-  that  the  vivacity  of  the  forms  that  upervene  to  the  latter 


OBJECT    OF    EARTHLY    DISCIPLINE.  325 

is  of  necessity,  and  that  which  is  found  in  spiritual  substances 
depends  on  their  will ;  for,  as  they  move  as  they  please  all  their 
parts,  they  also  assume  whatever  form  they  desire." 

If  spirits  have  this  plastic  power  (and  all  the  modern  phenom 
ena  go  to  prove  it),  their  capacities  of  deception  as  to  identity 
may  be  far  greater  than  we  imagine.  Perhaps  our  own  spiritual 
insight,  purity,  and  elevation  must  be  the  measure  of  our  ability 
to  detect  spiritual  impostors.  Perhaps  Supreme  Wisdom  inten 
tionally  keeps  us  unrelieved  from  the  necessity  of  exerting  our 
own  faculties  for  the  prosecution  of  truth.  "  If  God,"  says  Less- 
ing,  "should  hold  all  truth  inclosed  in  his  right  hand,  and  in 
his  left  only  the  ever-active  impulse  to  the  pursuit  of  truth,  al 
though  with  the  condition  that  I  should  always  and  for  ever  err, 
and  should  say  to  me,  Choose!  I  should  fall  with  submission 
upon  his  left  hand,  and  say,  'Father,  give!  Pure  truth  is  for 
thee  alone  ! '  " 

A  noble  saying;  offspring,  we  believe,  of  a  profound  insight 
into  spiritual  laws ;  signifying  that  our  own  individuality  and 
the  great  ends  of  our  being  are  best  promoted  by  that  discipline 
which  compels  us  to  think  for  ourselves,  do  for  ourselves,  and 
seek  light  for  ourselves ;  seek  it  not  only  from  the  exercise  of 
our  meditative  powers,  but  from  communion  with  all  good  in 
fluences  and  spirits  and  men.  But  if  we  think  to  find  spirits 
who  will  relieve  us  of  the  trouble  of  exercising  our  own  mental 
and  moral  faculties,  we  must  not  complain  should  we  become 
the  dupes  of  such  as  are  unscrupulous,  false,  or  fanciful.  Good 
spirits,  we  may  be  sure,  will  not  try  to  violate  the  laws  of  our 
being  by  making  us  mere  passive  instruments  under  their  con 
trol,  thus  taking  from  us  all  spiritual  dignity  and  freedom. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

SPIRITISM.  —  PRE-EXISTENCE.  —  METEMPSYCHOSIS. 

"  Moreover,  something  is  or  seems, 
That  teaches  me  with  mystic  gleams, 
Like  glimpses  of  forgotten  dreams, 
Of  something  felt,  like  something  here  ; 
Of  something  done,  I  know  not  where,  — 
Such  as  no  language  may  declare."  —  Tennyson. 

WE  have  said  that  the  modern  spiritual  movement  is  leader- 
less.  This  fact  is  one  of  its  remarkable  features.  All 
attempts  to  identify  any  one  man.  or  set  of  men,  with  any  expo 
sition  of  its  principles,  claiming  to  be  authoritative,  and  accepted 
as  such,  have  proved  utter  failures.  Even  organizations  and 
conventions  seem,  by  the  necessity  of  their  nature,  too  narrow 
for  its  ever-widening  circles.  The  unprecedented  progress  of 
Spiritualism,  numbering  as  it  does  its  recipients  by  millions  in 
the  United  States  alone,  is  a  success  that  is  to  no  extent  due 
to  the  concentration  and  exclusiven.ess  of  a  creed,  or  to  the  ma 
chinery  of  a  sect.  It  has  baffled  all  the  calculations  of  those 
who  believe  there  can  be  no  efficient  propagandism  without  a 
creed  and  an  organization. 

All  the  arguments  that  could  disaffect  the  worldly  and  alarm 
the  timid,  have  been  freely  used  to  check  its  advance.  With 
some  few  honorable  exceptions,  the  learned  and  the  influential 
have  not  only  stood  aloof,  but  have  denounced  it  either  as  an 
imposture,  or  as  a  diabolical  snare.  Many  persons,  calling  them 
selves  Spiritualists  or  mediums,  have  done  all  they  could  to  give 
it  a  bad  name  by  laying  at  its  door  their  own  offences  against 
good  morals,  good  English,  or  good  taste.  It  has  been  stabbed 
in  the  house  of  its  friends,  as  well  as  mobbed  and  maligned  by 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.  327 

its  enemies ;  and  yet  never  did  its  great  truths  shine  for  so  many 
eyes  with  an  immortal  lustre,  as  at  this  day.  Never  was  it  so 
secure  in  the  triumphs  of  the  future;  and  never  did  it  see  Science 
herself  so  thoroughly  rebuked  and  confounded  by  the  over 
whelming  testimony  by  which  it  is  upheld  above  the  sneers  of 
the  unthinking,  and  the  arrogant  hostility  of  those  who  decide 
without  examining,  and  make  their  own  experience  the  measure 
of  God's  truth. 

In  France,  when  the  news  of  the  Rochester  knockings  began 
to  make  a  noise,  M.  Latour,  editor  of  the  "Medical  Union,"  who 
had  experimented  sufficiently  to  satisfy  himself  that  they  were 
not  all  fraud  or  delusion,  wrote  (May,  1853)  as  follows  :  <;  What, 
then,  is  this  phenomenon?  Grand  Dieu !  I  cannot  hazard  the 
least  opinion  on  the  subject.  But  this  I  will  say,  that  science 
should  seriously  seek  to  produce  these  singular  facts,  to  study 
and  determine  their  laws,  and  divine  their  nature,  if  it  is  possible. 
What  is  there  hidden  in  the  discovery  of  these  phenomena,  and 
what  is  reserved  for  the  future?  If  the  scientific  world  neglect 
and  disdainfully  deny  them  -without  experimenting,  they  will  fall 
into  un-vorthy  hands,  and  be  obscured  by  exaggeration  and  en 
thusiasm,  and  serve  for  the  propagation  of  mystical  practices  : 
they  will  serve  to  nourish  folly  and  credulity  and  charlatanry; 
but  if  the  sa-vans  wish  it,  they  will  perhaps  find  the  germ  of  some 
great  discovery.  To  animate  inert  bodies,  and  make  them  obey 
the  will,  is,  no  doubt,  repugnant  to  human  reason.  Two  thou 
sand  vears  ago  it  was  observed  by  hazard  that  a  piece  of  amber, 
on  being  rubbed,  had  the  property  of  attracting  light  bodies. 
This  phenomenon,  passed  over  by  the  science  of  the  ancients, 
has  now  become  the  pivot  on  which  turns  modern  science.  Can 
human  reason  fully  explain  why  the  needle  always  turns  towards 
the  north?  Does  it  know  the  intimate  nature  of  magnetism, 
electricity,  of  caloric,  of  light?  And,  while  regarding  this  table 
on  which  I  write,  I  cannot  help  crying,  as  Galileo  of  old  did  of 
the  universe,  '  And  yet  you  turn.'" 

The  warning  of  this  man  of  science  to  his  brethren  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  heeded;  and  much  that  he  predicted  has  un- 


328  PLANCHETTE. 

doubtedly  come  to  pass.  Spiritualism  has  been  tended -and 
nursed  by  the  lowly  and  unpretending ;  and  the  stubborn  facts 
that  have  been  elicited  are  not  now  to  be  set  aside. 

The  man  who  has  perhaps  approached  nearest  to  the  character 
of  a  leader  of  the  spiritual  movement  in  France,  is  M.  Hippo- 
lyte-Le'on-Denizard  Rivail,  who,  under  the  pseudonym  of  Allan 
Kardec,  has  had  remarkable  success,  by  his  writings  and  teach 
ings,  in  making  a  belief  in  the  spiritual  solution  of  the  modern 
phenomena  carry  with  it  the  Platonic  doctrine,  somewhat 
modified,  of  pre-existence  and  re-incarnation.  Before  Kardec, 
this  ancient  doctrine  had  been  advocated  by  several  of  the 
French  philosophers  and  mystics;  by  St.  Simon,  Prosper  En- 
fantin,  St.  Martin,  Fourier,  Pierre  Leroux;  and,  lastly,  by  Jean 
Reynaud,  the  literary  associate  of  Leroux,  and  author  of  a  re 
markable  work  entitled  "Terre  et  Ciel,"  of  which  we  shall  have 
more  to  say. 

Kardec  was  born  in  Lyons,  in  1804.  A  pupil  of  Pestalozzi,  he 
became  one  of  the  propagators  of  the  educational  system  of  that 
distinguished  reformer.  Born  of  Catholic  parents,  Kardec  gave 
much  thought  from  an  early  age  to  the  subject  of  religious  re 
form.  In  1850,  he  began  the  examination  of  the  American 
spiritual  phenomena.  Becoming  convinced  of  their  genuine 
ness,  he  applied  himself  to  the  deduction  of  their  philosophical 
consequences.  In  this  task,  he  employed  both  the  inductive  and 
the  deductive  processes ;  investigating  phenomena,  interrogating 
the  supposed  spirits  through  a  great  variety  of  mediums,  and 
then  examining  the  results  by  the  light  of  his  own  reason  and 
spiritual  intuitions.  The  information  thus  procured  he  has  con 
densed  and  arranged  methodically,  adding  his  own  remarks  and 
explanations  in  a  manner  to  distinguish  them  from  the  rest  of 
the  text. 

To  his  system  he  gives  the  name  of  Spiritism.  "The  words 
Spiritualism,  Spiritualist"  he  says,  "have  a  well-defined  accep 
tation  :  to  give  them  a  new  one  by  applying  them  to  the  doctrine 
of  spirits,  would  be  to  multiply  the  causes,  already  so  numerous, 
of  amphibology.  Properly  speaking,  Spiritualism  is  the  oppo- 


KARDEC'S    SPIRITISM.  329 

site  of  materialism  :  whoever  believes  he  has  within  him  some 
thing  distinguished  from  matter,  is  a  Spiritualist;  but  it  may 
not  follow  that  he  believes  in  the  existence  of  spirits,  or  in  their 
communications  with  the  visible  world.  To  designate  this  latter 
belief,  we  employ,  in  place  of  the  words  Spiritualism,  Spiritual 
ist,  the  words  Spiritism,  Spiritist" 

In  1858,  Kardec  established  "  La  Revue  Spirite,"  a  monthly 
magazine,  which  is  still  published.  He  is  the  author  of  several 
volumes,  in  which  his  peculiar  doctrines  are  set  forth  in  a  re 
markably  clear,  matter-of-fact  style,  methodical  and  precise,  free 
from  all  mysticism  and  prolixity.  One  great  cause  of  his  suc 
cess  is  perhaps  his  lucid,  intelligible  way  of  treating  the  pro- 
foundest  questions  relating  to  the  dual  nature  of  man. 

According  to  the  doctrine  *  of  Spiritism,  the  soul  is  the  intel 
ligent  principle  which  animates  human  beings,  and  gives  them 
thought,  will,  and  liberty  of  action.  It  is  immaterial,  individual, 
and  immortal ;  but  its  intimate  essence  is  unknown  :  we  cannot 
conceive  it  as  absolutely  isolated  from  matter,  except  as  an  ab 
straction.  United  to  an  ethereal  or  a  fluid  envelope  or perisprit, 
it  constitutes  the  concrete  spiritual  being,  determinate  and  cir- 
cumscriptive,  called  spirit.  By  metonymy,  we  often  employ  the 
words  soul  and  spirit,  the  one  for  the  other,  speaking  of  happy 
souls  or  happy  spirits,  &c. ;  but  the  word  soul,  according  to  Spir 
itism,  suggests  the  idea  rather  of  an  abstract  principle,  and  the 
word  spirit  that  of  an  individuality. 

The  spirit,  united  to  the  material  body  by  incarnation,  consti 
tutes  the  man;  so  that  in  man  there  are  three  things:  the  soul, 
properly  so-called,  or  intelligent  principle ;  the  perisprit,  or 
fluid  envelope  of  the  soul;  the  body,  or  material  envelope.  The 
soul  is  thus  a  simple  being;  the  spirit,  a  double  being,  composed 
of  the  soul  and  the  perisprit;  the  man,  a  triple  being,  composed 
of  the  soul,  the  perisprit,  and  the  body.  The  body,  separated 
from  the  spirit,  is  inert  matter ;  the  perisprit,  separated  from  the 


*  We  are  indebted  to  "  Le  Dictionnaire  Universel"  of  Maurice  Lachatre  for  the 
substance  of  this  statement. 

'•;$  AR 

•SIP     1 


330  PLANCHETTE. 

soul,  is  a  fluid  matter  without  life  or  intelligence.  The  soul  is 
the  principle  of  life  and  of  intelligence. 

It  is  not  true,  therefore,  as  certain  critics  have  pretended,  that 
in  giving  to  the  soul  a  fluid,  semi-material  envelope,  Spiritism 
has  made  of  it  a  material  being. 

The  first  origin  of  the  soul  is  unknown,  because  the  principle 
of  things  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  Omnipotence;  and  it  is  not 
given  to  man,  in  his  actual  state  of  inferiority,  to  comprehend 
all.  On  this  point,  one  can  only  formulate  systems.  According 
to  some,  the  soul  is  a  spontaneous  creation  of  Divinity;  accord 
ing  to  others,  it  is  a  very  emanation,  a  portion,  a  spark  of  the 
divine  essence.  The  problem  is  one  on  which  we  can  only  estab 
lish  hypotheses,  inasmuch  as  there  are  reasons  for  and  against. 

Against  the  second  of  these  opinions,  the  following  objection 
is  brought :  God  being  perfect,  if  souls  are  portions  of  Divinity, 
they  ought  to  be  perfect,  by  reason  of  the  axiom,  that  the  part  is 
of  the  same  nature  as  the  whole;  whence  the  question  would 
arise,  Why  are  souls  imperfect  and  in  need  of  further  improve 
ment? 

Without  stopping  at  the  different  systems  touching  the  inti 
mate  nature  and  the  origin  of  the  soul,  Spiritism  considers  it  as 
it  is  manifested  in  the  human  race :  it  ascertains,  by  the  proofs, 
of  its  isolation  and  of  its  action,  independent  of  matter  during 
life  and  after  death,  the  great  facts  of  its  existence,  its  attributes, 
its  survivance,  and  its  individuality.  Its  individuality  is  shown 
in  the  diversity  which  exists  in  the  ideas  and  qualities  of  each  in 
the  phenomenon  of  the  manifestations ;  a  diversity  which  im 
plies  for  each  a  proper  existence. 

A  fact  not  less  important  is  proved  by  observation  :  it  is  that 
the  soul  is  essentially  progressive,  and  that  it  makes  acquisitions 
unceasingly  in  knowledge  and  in  moral  wisdom,  since  we  find  it 
at  all  stages  of  development.  The  almost  unanimous  teaching 
of  spirits  tells  us  it  is  created  simple  and  ignorant ;  that  is  to 
say,  without  knowledge,  without  consciousness  of  good  and  of 
evil,  with  an  equal  aptitude  for  either,  and  for  acquiring  all. 

Creation  being  incessant,  and  from  all  eternity,  there  are  souls 


DOCTRINE    OF    RE-INCARNATION.  33! 

arrived  at  the  summit  of  the  ladder  when  others  are  arriving  at 
the  consciousness  of  life  ;  but,  all  having  the  same  point  of  de 
parture,  God  creates  no  one  of  them  better  endowed  than  an 
other,  and  this  is  in  conformity  with  his  sovereign  justice  :  a 
perfect  equality  presiding  at  their  formation,  they  advance  more 
or  less  rapidly,  by  virtue  of  their  free  will,  and  according  to  the 
pains  they  take.  God  thus  leaves  to  each  the  merit  or  demerit 
of  his  acts,  and  the  responsibility  increases  as  the  moral  sense 
develops.  So  that  of  two  souls  created  at  the  same  time,  the 
one  may  arrive  at  a  certain  height  more  quickly  than  the  other, 
if  it  labors  more  actively  for  its  amelioration ;  but  those  who  lag 
behind  have  it  equally  in  their  power  to  reach  that  height,  al 
though  not  so  soon,  and  after  many  rude  experiences,  for  God 
does  not  shut  the  future  to  any  of  his  children. 

The  incarnation  of  the  soul  in  a  material  body  is,  according  to 
Spiritism,  necessary  to  its  improvement,  by  the  labor  which  the 
corporeal  existence  demands,  and  the  intelligence  it  develops. 
Not  being  able,  in  a  single  life,  to  acquire  all  the  moral  and  intel 
lectual  qualities  which  are  needed  to  conduct  it  to  its  goal,  it  ar 
rives  there  in  passing  through  an  unlimited  series  of  existences, 
'whether  ttpon  this  earth  or  in  other  'worlds,  in  each  of  which  it 
takes  a  step  in  the  ivay  of  progress,  and  gets  rid  of  some  of  its 
imperfections.  Into  every  existence  the  soul  brings  what  it  has 
acquired  in  its  preceding  existences.  And  thus  is  explained  the 
difference  which  exists  in  the  innate  aptitudes,  and  in  the  degree 
of  advancement  of  races  and  people. 

According  to  Spiritism,  the  universe  is  an  immense  labora 
tory,  where  humanity,  "emanating  from  an  ethereal  fluid, 
becomes  elaborated,  individualizing  itself  by  incarnation,  puri 
fying  itself  in  bodies  as  in  so  many  crucibles ;  and,  through  a 
(progressive  advancement,  by  virtue  of  its  inherent  perfectibility, 
arriving  finally  at  the  state  where  it  is  the  crowning  work  of 
creation."* 

*  "La  Raison  du  Spiritisme,  par  Michel  Bonnamy.  Paris:  1868."  See,  also, 
"Du  Spiritualisme  Rationnel,  par  G.  H.  Love.  Paris:  1862."  A  work  by  a  mar.  of 
science,  in  which  the  doctrine  of  pre-existence  and  re-incarnation  is  supported  by  argu 
ments  drawn  from  physical  facts. 


333  PLANCHETTE. 

Such  is  the  system  of  Spiritism  in  regard  to  the  soul's  re 
incarnation.  It  is  claimed  for  it,  that  it  reconciles  to  our 
notions  of  divine  justice  the  fact  of  those  striking  differences, 
moral  and  intellectual,  in  human  beings,  from  the  very  moment 
of  birth. 

To  its  doctrine  of  pre-existence,  it  is  objected,  that  it  shifts 
the  difficulty,  but  does  not  remove  it;  for,  go  back  as  far  as  we 
may,  we  come  at  last  to  a  point  where  we  have  two  souls,  sup 
posed  to  have  been  created  equal.  Now,  if  in  virtue  of  their 
free  will,  one  of  these  souls  takes  a  bias  to  good,  and  the  other 
to  evil,  how  can  there  have  been  perfect  equality  in  their  condi 
tions,  or  in  the  temptations  to  which  they  were  exposed?  Per 
fect  equality  throughout  ought  to  lead  to  an  equality  of  results. 
Why,  then,  should  one  soul  get  the  start  of  another  in  good 
ness  ? 

To  this  objection  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Beecher,  th«  principal 
American  advocate  of  the  doctrine  of  pre-existence,  replies,  in 
his  "able  "Conflict  of^A.ges,"  as  follows:  "The  real  and  great 
difficulty  lies,  not  in  the  idea  that  free  agents  should  sin,  but  in 
the  idea  that  God  should  bring  man  into  being  with  a  nature 
morally  depraved,  anterior  to  any  will,  wish,  desire,  or  knowl 
edge  of  his  own,  or  with  a  constitution  so  deranged  and  corrupt, 
as  to  tend  to  sin  with  a  power  that  no  man  can  overcome  in 
himself  or  in  others;  and  that,  in  addition  to  this,  He  should 
place  him  in  a  state  of  so  great  social  disadvantage,  and,  as  the 
climax,  expose  him,  so  weak,  to  the  fearful  wiles  of  powerful 
and  malignant  spirits.  This  difficulty,  pre-existence  does  touch 
and  entirely  remove,  by  referring  the  origin  of  his  depravity  to 
his  own  action  in  another  state,  and  showing  that  the  system  of 
this  world  is  a  system  of  sovereignty  established  over  beings 
who  have  lost  their  original  claims  on  the  justice  of  God.* 

"If  now  a  difficulty  is  alleged  still  to  exist  as  to  their  first 

*  Here  Dr.  Beecher  diverges  from  the  teachings  of  Spiritism,  in  his  attempt  to 
accommodate  the  theory  of  pre-existence  to  the  demands  of  the  Calvinistic  theology. 
It  will  be  seen  that  Origen  believed  that  all  our  punishment  here  is  remedial,  and  that 
there  is  no  spirit  so  evil  that  he  may  not  ultimately  reform. 


THE    ORIGIN    OF    EVIL.  333 

sinning  in  a  previous  state,  it  is  enough  to  say  that  this  is  not 
the  same  difficulty  that  existed  before,  but  altogether  a  different 
one ;  that  is,  how  beings,  created  with  an  uncorrupt  moral  con-r 
stitution,  and  in  a  spiritual  system  arranged  in  the  best  possible 
manner  to  favor  their  perseverance  in  right,  could  possibly  sin. 
Suppose,  then,  that  this  question  is  not  answered,  and  cannot 
be  (although  I  do  not  concede  that  it  cannot)  ;  but  suppose  it. 
What  then  ?  It  merely  leaves  a  mysterious  fact ;  but  it  does  not, 
as  in  the  former  case,  present  an  alleged  fact,  which  the  human 
mind  can  see  to  be  within  the  range  of  its  faculties,  and  to  be 
positively  unjust.  It  therefore  removes  a  dispensation  positively 
unjust,  and,  in  place  of  it,  presents  one  that  is  simply  mys 
terious. 

"But  it  resorts  to  mystery  in  a  proper  place;  for,  since  the 
past  history  of  the  universe  is  not  revealed  in  detail,  nothing 
exists  to  forbid  the  idea  that,  whatever  were  the  circumstances 
in  which  men  sinned,  and  whatever  were  the  reasons  of  their 
sinning,  still  they  were  such  as  in  the  highest  degree  to  show 
forth  the  honor,  justice,  and  love  of  God,  and  to  throw  the 
whole  blame  on  man.  What,  then,  if  we  cannot  state  exactly 
these  circumstances  and  reasons?  What  if  we  cannot  recon 
struct  the  past  history  of  each  man  ?  Still  we  know  nothing, 
and  we  see  nothing,  to  forbid  a  full  belief,  based  on  confidence  in 
God,  that,  in  all  his  dealings  with  them,  he  was  honorable  and 
just.  .  .  .  These  disclosures  of  the  Bible  settle  the  question  as 
to  the  origin  of  evil.  They  no  less  clearly  prove  that  the  origin 
of  the  sin  of  man  is  not  to  be  looked  for  in  this  world." 

Another  reply  to  the  objection  may  be,  that  we  know  not 
through  what  equalities  of  struggle  and  temptation  all  souls 
may  have  passed.  The  saint  of  to-day  may  have  been  a  direful 
sinner  in  some  previous  state;  and  many  of  the  differences 
among  souls  may  b.e  simply  the  result  of  the  different  number 
of  disciplinary  existences  through  which  they  have  passed,  some 
having  entered  on  conscious  life  in  advance  of  others.  Should 
this  view  strike  us  as  a  humbling  one,  it  may  be  none  the  less 
salutary  on  that  account;  for  why,  when  we  think  of  it,  should 


334  PLANC1IETTE. 

we  merit  it  of  Providence  that  we  should  be  born  with  better 
propensities,  or  under  more  auspicious  circumstances,  than  our 
neighbor? 

The  theological  dogma  that  all  the  numerous  millions  of 
Adam's  posterity  deserve  the  ineffable  and  endless  torments 
of  hell  for  a  single  act  of  his,  before  any  one  of  them  existed,  is 
admitted  by  all  to  be  repugnant  to  that  reason  which  God  has 
given  us  ;  subversive  of  all  possible  conceptions  of  justice. 
Even  Pascal,  Calvin,  Mansel,  and  other  orthodox  writers,  while 
accepting  the  terrible  doctrine,  admit  thus  much,  substantially, 
as  to  its  character,  humanly  considered ;  but  they  escape  from 
the  difficulty,  by  assuming  that  we  must  not  measure  divine  by 
human  notions  of  justice ;  that  morality  may  be  one  thing  on 
earth,  and  another  in  the  heaven  of  heavens! 

With  irresistible  force  has  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill  replied  to  this 
attempt  to  pacify  faith  at  the  expense  of  reason  and  the  moral 
sense.  He  says,  "Mr.  Mansel  combats  as  a  heresy  of  his  oppo 
nents  the  opinion  that  infinite  goodness  differs  only  in  degree 
from  finite  goodness.  Here,  then,  I  take  my  stand  upon  the 
acknowledged  principle  of  logic  and  morality,  that  -when  -we 
mean  different  things,  tve  have  no  right  to  call  them  by  the  same 
name  and  to  apply  to  them  the  same  predicates^  moral  and  intel 
lectual.  If,  instead  of  the  glad  tidings  that  there  exists  a  Being 
in  whom  all  the  excellences  which  the  highest  mind  can  con 
ceive,  exist  in  a  degree  inconceivable  to  us,  I  am  informed  that 
the  world  is  ruled  by  a  Being  whose  attributes  are  infinite,  but 
what  they  are  we  cannot  learn,  except  that  the  highest  human 
morality  does  not  sanction  them,  —  convince  me  of  this,  and 
I  iv  ill  bear  my  fate  as  I  may.  But  when  I  am  told  that  I  must 
believe  this,  and  at  the  same  time  call  this  Being  by  the  names 
which  express  and  affirm  the  highest  human  morality,  I  say  in 
-plain  terms  that  I  ivill  not.  Whatever  power  such  a  Being  may 
have  over  me,  he  shall  not  compel  me  to  worship  him.  I  call 
no  being  good  who  is  not  what  I  mean  when  I  apply  that  epithet 
to  my  fellow-creatures ;  and  if  such  a  Being  can  sentence  me  to 
hell  for  not  so  calling  him,  to  hell  I  will  go  " 


A    PREVALENT    IDEA.  335 

Whittier  has  expressed  similar  sentiments,  though  in  a  ten 
derer  strain  :  — 

"  Not  mine  to  look  when  cherubim 

And  seraphs  may  not  see  ; 
But  nothing  can  be  good  in  Him, 

Which  evil  is  in  me. 
The  wrong  that  pains  my  soul  below, 

I  dare  not  throne  above  : 
I  know  not  of  His  hate,  —  I  know 

His  goodness  and  His  love." 

Kardec's  doctrine  of  pre-existence  differs,  it  will  have  been 
seen,  from  that  of  those  seers  who  proclaim  the  eternity  as  well 
as  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  Kardec  believes  in  the  unremit 
ting  exercise  of  the  creative  power  of  Deity. 

To  many  Spiritualists  the  doctrine  of  re-incarnation  seems  to 
be  quite  repulsive;  though  it  is  largely  taught  in  communica 
tions  claiming  to  be  from  spirits.  Mr.  Shorter  asks,  What 
must  be  the  thoughts  of  the  pious  mother  who  imagines  the 
possibility  that  the  infant  at  her  breast  is  a  graduate  from  the 
galleys  or  the  prison !  To  this  objection  it  may  be  retorted, 
What  must  be  the  thoughts  of  those  pure-minded  and  faithful 
parents,  who,  in  spite  of  all  their  parental  care  and  affection, 
see  their  children  turn  out  criminals  or  sensualists?  Would  a 
theory  that  exempted  those  parents  from  the  dread  that  some 
thing  for  which  they  themselves  were  responsible  —  something 
vicious  in  their  own  souls  —  had  dragged  those  children  down, 
be  wholly  unacceptable? 

"The  prevalent  idea  with  regard  to  spirits,"  says  Kardec, 
"  renders  the  phenomenon  of  their  manifestation,  at  first  sight, 
incomprehensible.  These  manifestations  can  only  take  place 
through  the  action  of  spirit  upon  matter,  and  therefore  those 
who  believe  that  spirit  is  the  absence  of  all  matter,  ask,  with 
some  appearance  of  reason,  how  it  can  act  materially.  Now, 
here  is  precisely  their  error;  for  spirit  is  not  an  abstraction  :  it  is 
a  defined  being,  limited  and  circumscribed.  The  spirit,  clothed 
in  the  body,  constitutes  the  soul ;  but  when,  at  the  hour  of 


PLANCHETTE. 

death,  it  quits  the  body,  it  is  not  divested  of  all  envelopment. 
All  spirits  tell  us  that  they  preserve  the  human  form  ;  and, 
indeed,  when  they  appear  to  us,  it  is  in  such  forms  as  we  can 
recognize. 

"Let  us  observe  them  attentively  at  the  moment  that  they 
have  quitted  this  life.  They  are  in  a  state  of  perplexity ;  all 
seems  confused  around  them.  On  the  one  hand,  they  behold 
their  body,  whole  or  mutilated,  according  to  the  manner  of 
death;  on  the  other  hand,  they  see  and  feel  themselves  alive. 
Something  tells  them  that  this  body  belongs  to  them,  and  they 
cannot  understand  being  separated  from  it.  They  continue  to 
see  themselves  in  their  original  form ;  and  this  sight  produces 
amongst  some  of  them,  for  a  short  time,  a  most  singular  illu 
sion, —  that  of  believing  themselves  still  in  the  flesh.  They  re 
quire  to  become  accustomed  to  their  new  condition  before  they 
can  be  convinced  of  its  reality.  This  first  uncertainty  being 
dispelled,  the  earthly  body  becomes  to  them  an  old  garment 
which  they  have  thrown  off  for  ever,  and  which  they  no  longer 
regret.  They  feel  lighter,  and  as  if  relieved  of  a  burden.  They 
experience  no  longer  physical  pain,  and  rejoice  in  being  able  to 
rise  and  pass  through  space,  as  they  sometimes  fancied  they  did 
in  their  earthly  dreams. 

"Nevertheless,  notwithstanding  the  absence  of  their  earthly 
body,  they  retain  their  personality.  They  possess  a  form,  but 
one  which  neither  impedes  nor  embarrasses  them.  In  fact,  they 
have  still  their  individuality  and  consciousness  of  being.  What, 
then,  must  we  conclude?  Briefly,  that  the  soul  leaves  not  all  in 
the  grave,  but  that  she  carries  something  away  with  her  to  her 
new  home." 

According  to  Kardec,  death  is  the  disintegration  of  the  mate 
rial  body  which  the  soul  abandons.  The  spiritual  body,  or 
•perisprit,  now  disengages  itself,  and  accompanies  the  soul 
which  thus  still  finds-  itself  "clothed  upon."  This  new  body, 
though  fluid,  ethererl,  vaporous,  and  invisible  to  us  in  its  nor 
mal  state,  is  as  real  -»s  matter  itself,  though  up  to  the  present 
time  we  have  been  unable  to  seize  and  analyze  it. 


KARDEC    ON    THE    SPIRIT    BODY.  337 

This  second  envelope  of  the  soul  exists,  then,  during  the 
corporeal  life.  It  is  the  medium  of  all  the  sensations  of  which 
the  spirit  is  conscious,  and  through  which  the  spirit  conveys  its 
will  to  its  exterior  body,  and  acts  upon  the  various  organs.  To 
use  a  material  comparison,  it  is  the  electric  wire  which  serves 
to  receive  and  transmit  the  thought;  it  is,  in  short,  that  myste 
rious,  imperceptible  agent,  spoken  of  as  nervous  fluid.  To 
recognize  this  spiritual  body,  is  to  obtain  the  key  to  a  multi 
tude  of  problems  hitherto  unexplained. 

The  spiritual  body  is  not  one  of  those  hypotheses  to  which 
science  sometimes  has  recourse  to  explain  a  fact.  Its  existence 
is  not  only  revealed  by  spirits  themselves,  it  is  the  result  of  ob 
servation.  Whether  in  the  earthly  body  or  out  of  it,  the  soul 
is  never  separated  from  its  spiritual  encasement. 

The  spirit  body,  then,  is  an  integral  part  of  the  man ;  but  this 
encasement  alone  is  no  more  the  spirit  than  the  body  alone  is 
the  man ;  for  the  spiritual  body  cannot  think :  it  is  to  the  spirit 
what  the  body  is  to  the  man,  the  agent  or  instrument  of  his 
action.  The  human  form  and  that  of  the  spirit  body  are  iden 
tical  ;  and  when  the  latter  appears  to  us,  it  is  generally  with 
that  particular  exterior  with  which  we  were  formerly  familiar. 
We  might  think  from  this  that  the  spiritual  body,  though  sepa 
rate  from  all  parts  of  the  outer  body,  moulds  itself  in  some  way 
upon  it,  and  preserves  the  impress  of  it;  but  it  appears  that  this 
is  not  the  case.  Making  allowance  for  the  organic  modifica 
tions  necessitated  by  the  surroundings  in  which  men  are  placed, 
with  the  exception  of  some  .details,  the  human  form  (says 
Kardec)  is  to  be  found  in  the  inhabitants  of  all  worlds;  at  least, 
so  say  the  spirits.  It  is,  moreover,  equally  the  form  of  all  non- 
incarnate  spirits,  and  those  who  have  only  the  spirit  body. 

It  is  the  form  in  which,  through  all  ages,  angels  and  purified 
spirits  have  been  represented,  from  which  we  may  conclude  that 
the  human  shape  is  the  type  of  all  human  beings,  in  whatever 
state  or  worlds  they  may  be  found.  But  the  subtle  substance  of 
the  spirit  body  has  not  the  tenacity  nor  rigidity  of  the  material 
body.  It  is,  so  to  speak,  flexible  and  expansive,  and  therefore 


33$  PLANCHETTE. 

the  form  it  takes,  though  traced  or  copied  from  that  of  the  body, 
is  not  absolute  :  it  bends  itself  to  the  will  of  the  spirit.  Freed 
from  these  fetters  which  confined  it,  the  spirit  body  can  extend, 
contract,  or  transform  itself;  in  a  word,  can  lend  itself  to  any 
metamorphosis,  according  to  the  will  which  acts  upon  it.  It  is 
through  this  property  of  its  fluid  encasement  that  the  spirit 
which  desires  to  make  itself  known  can  take,  when  necessary, 
the  exact  appearance  it  had  when  living,  even  to  the  bodily 
peculiarities,  and  the  very  style  of  dress,  by  which  it  can  be 
recognized.  We  see,  then,  that  spirits  are  beings  like  ourselves, 
forming  around  us  a  population,  invisible  to  us  in  the  normal 
state. 

But  the  spirit  body,  though  fluid,  is,  nevertheless,  a  kind  of 
matter,  and  this  results  in  the  facts  of  tangible  apparitions. 
Under  the  influence  of  certain  mediums,  there  have  been  seen 
hands,  possessing  all  the  properties  and  appearances  of  living 
hands,  warm  and  palpable,  which  offer  the  resistance  of  a  solid 
body,  which  will  seize  and  hold  you,  and  in  a  moment  vanish 
again  like  a  shadow.  The  definite  action  of  these  hands  — 
which  evidently  obey  a  will  in  executing  their  movements,  and 
playing  even  on  a  musical  instrument  —  prove  that  they  are  the 
visible  parts  of  an  invisible  intelligence.  Their  tangibility, 
their  temperature,  and,  in  short,  the  impression  they  make  on 
the  senses,  —  for  they  have  been  known  to  leave  an  impress  on  the 
skin,  to  give  blows  so  hard  as  to  be  painful,  or  caress  most  deli 
cately, —  prove  that  they  are  of  some  species  of  matter.  Their 
instantaneous  disappearance  proves,  moreover,  that  this  matter 
is  eminently  subtle,  and  is  of  the  nature  of  those  substances 
which  can  alternately  pass  from  the  solid  to  the  fluid  condition, 
and  vice-versa. 

.  As  we  have  already  seen,  Spiritism  teaches  that  the  essen 
tial  nature  of  the  spirit  proper,  that  is,  the  thinking  being,  is 
entirely  unknown  to  us.  It  reveals  itself  to  us  only  by  its  acts, 
and  its  acts  can  affect  our  material  senses  but  through  some 
intermediate  substance.  Thus  the  spirit  requires  matter  to  act 
upon  matter.  It  has,  for  its  direct  instrument,  the  spirit-form, 


PRE-EXISTENCE.  339 

just  as  man  has  the  body;  hence  the  spirit-form  is  matter,  as 
we  have  seen.  It  has,  further,  the  universal  ether,  a  sort  of 
vehicle  on  which  it  can  act,  as  we  act  on  the  air,  to  produce  the 
effects  of  dilation,  compression,  propulsion,  and  vibration. 

Looked  at  in  this  manner,  the  action  of  spirit  on  matter  is,  in 
Kardec's  philosophy,  easily  conceived ;  and  hence  it  is  to  be 
understood  that  all  the  effects  which  result  from  it  enter  into  the 
class  of  natural  facts,  and  have  in  them  nothing  miraculous. 
They  have  appeared  supernatural  simply  because  their  cause 
was  unknown.  This  once  known,  the  marvellousness  disappears, 
and  this  cause  is  entirely  in  the  semi-material  properties-of  the 
spirit  body.  It  is  a  new  order  of  facts,  which  will  find  their 
explanation  in  a  newly  discovered  law,  and  which  will  very 
shortly  astonish  us  no  more  than  does  the  intercourse  now 
made  possible  through  electricity. 

It  may  be  asked,  perhaps,  how  the  spirit,  with  the  help  of  so 
subtle  a  substance,  can  act  upon  heavy  and  compact  bodies,  lift 
tables,  &c.  Surely  no  man  of  science,  says  Kardec,  would 
raise  such  an  objection ;  for,  not  to  mention  unknown  proper 
ties  which  this  new  agent  may  possess,  have  we  not  under  our 
own  eyes  analogous  examples?  Is  it  not  in  the  most  rarified 
gases  and  the  imponderable  fluids  that  industry  has  found  its 
most  potent  motive  powers?  When  we  see  the  air  overturn 
whole  edifices,  steam  propel  enormous  masses,  gaseous  powder 
burst  asunder  mighty  rocks,  and  electricity  tear  up  trees  and 
pierce  the  solid  walls,  what  is  there  strange  in  allowing  that  a 
spirit,  with  the  aid  of  its  spirit  body,  can  lift  a  table,  especially 
when  it  is  known  that  this  spirit  body  can  become  visible,  tan 
gible,  and  exhibit  the  attributes  of  a  solid  body? 

On  the  subject  of  pre-existence,  Henry  More,  the  Platonist, 
and  the  friend  and  correspondent  of  Descartes,  writes  (1659) 
as  follows:  "This  consequence  of  our  soul's  pre-existence  is 
more  agreeable  to  reason  than  any  other  hypothesis  whatever ; 
has  been  received  by  the  most  learned  philosophers  of  all  ages, 
there  being  scarce  any  of  them  that  held  the  soul  of  man  im 
mortal  upon  the  mere  light  of  nature  and  reason,  but  asserted 


34°  PLANCHETTE. 

also  her  pre-existence ;  that  memory  is  no  fit  judge  to  appeal  to 
in  this  controversy;  and,  lastly,  that  traduction  *  and  creation 
are  as  intricate  and  inconceivable  as  this  opposed  opinion." 

Among  the  advocates  of  pre  -  existence,  More  enumerates 
Zoroaster,  Pythagoras,  Epicharmus,  Empedocles,  Cebes,  Eu 
ripides,  Plato,  Virgil,  Cicero,  Hippocrates,  Galen,  Plotinus, 
Jamblichus,  Proclus,  Boethius,  Psellus,  Synesius,  Origen,  Mar- 
silius  Ficinus,  Cardan;  and,  lastly,  the  great  authority  of  the 
scholastic  period,  Aristotle,  who,  in  his  treatise  on  the  Soul, 
speaks  of  the  body  that  the  soul  is  to  actuate;  and,  blaming 
those  .who  omit  that  consideration,  says,  "that  they  are  as  care 
less  of  that  matter  as  if  it  were  possible  that,  according  to  the 
Pythagoric  fables,  any  soul  might  enter  into  any  body  ;  whereas, 
every  animal,  as  it  has  its  proper  species,  so  it  is  to  have  its 
peculiar  form.  '  But.  those  that  define  otherwise,'  saith  Aris 
totle,  '  speak  as  if  one  should  affirm  that  the  skill  of  a  car 
penter  did  enter  into  a  flute  or  pipe;  for  every  art  must  use  its 
proper  instrument,  and  every  soul  its  proper  body.'  Whereas, 
as  Cardan  also  has  obsefved,  Aristotle  does  not  find  fault 
with  the  opinion  of  the  soul's  going  out  of  one  body  into 
another  (which  implies  its  pre-existence) ;  but  that  the  soul 
of  a  beast  should  go  into  the  body  of  a  man,  and  the  soul  of  a 
man  into  a  beast's  body,  —  this  is  the  absurdity  that  Aristotle 
justly  rejects,  while  the  other  opinion  he  seems  tacitly  to 
allow  of." 

Of  Marsilius  Ficinus,  whom  More  reckons  among  the  advo 
cates  of  pre-existence,  he  relates  that  Marsilius  had  made  a  vow 
with  his  fellow-Platonist,  Michael  Mercatus,  that  the  one  who 
might  die  first  should  appear  to  his  friend  and  confirm  the  truth 
of  what  they  had  often  made  a  subject  of  discussion ;  namely, 

*  Tertullian  taught  what  was  called  "  material  traducianism"  according  to  which, 
life,  having  its  source  in  the  blood,  was  naturally  transmitted  from  parent  to  offspring. 
There  was  a  "  spiritual  traducianism  "  taught  by  another  Christian  school,  according 
to  which  the  soul  of  the  offspring  was  engendered  by  the  soul  of  the  parent.  Besides 
the  Platonic  doctrine  of  pre-existence,  held  by  Origen,  there  was  a  fourth  doctrine 
called  " crecvtionism"  according  to  which  the  Deity  creates  the  soul  for  each  indi 
vidual  body  at  or  shortly  after  the  moment  when  the  body  itself  begins  to  exist 


ADVOCATES    OF    PRK-EXISTENCE.  34! 

the  soul's  immortality.  Michael,  being  intent  on  his  studies  on  a 
certain  morning,  heard  a  horse  approaching  with  all  speed,  and 
observed  that  he  stopped  at  the  window;  and  therewith  heard 
the  voice  of  his  friend,  Marsilius,  crying  out  aloud,  "O  Michael, 
Michael!  vera,  vera  sunt  ilia!"  —  O  Michael,  Michael!  those 
things  are  true,  are  true  !  Whereupon  Michael  suddenly  opened 
the  window,  and,  espying  Marsilius  on  a  white  steed,  called 
after  him  ;  but,  as  he  looked,  the  apparition  vanished.  Michael 
sent  presently  to  Florence  to  inquire  how  Marsilius  was,  and 
learned  that  he  died  about  the  hour  he  had  appeared  at  the 
window. 

Of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  the  younger,  Burnet  says,  "  His  friends 
told  me,  he  leaned  to  Origen's  notion  of  a  universal  salvation 
of  all,  both  of  devils  and  the  damned,  and  to  the  doctrine  of 
pre-existence.  When  he  saw  his  death  was  designed,  he  com 
posed  himself  to  it  with  a  resolution  that  surprised  all  who 
knew  how  little  of  that  was  natural  to  him." 

"It  is  not  without  reason,"  says  Saint  Martin  (1743-1803), 
"  that  we  look  upon  the  duration  of  this  corporeal  life  as  a  time 
of  chastisement  and  expiation;  but  we  cannot  look  upon  it  as 
such,  without  forthwith  thinking  that  there  must  have  been  for 
man  a  state  anterior  and  preferable  to  the  one  tv herein  he  now 
finds  himself.  .  .  .  Each  of  his  sufferings  is  an  index  of  the 
happiness  wanting  in  him;  each  of  his  privations  proves  that 
he  was  made  for  enjoyment ;  and  his  present  subjection  an 
nounces  an  ancient  authority;  in  one  word,  to  feel  now  that 
he  has  nothing,  is  a  secret  proof  that  once  he  had  all.  .  .  .  As 
our  material  existence  is  not  life,  our  material  destruction  is  not 
death." 

Joseph  Glanvil,  to  whose  investigations  into  the  facts  of 
witchcraft  and  other  spiritual  phenomena  we  have  already 
referred,  published  in  1662,  but  without  his  name,  a  treatise  to 
prove  the  reasonableness  of  the  doctrine  of  the  pre-existence  of 
souls.  He  was  also  the  author  of  a  letter,  still  in  existence 
among  the  Baxter  manuscripts,  full  of  curious  learning  in 
defence  of  the  doctrine. 


343  PLANCHETTE. 

In  Germany,  Kant,  Schelling,  and  Jul.  Miiller,  used  the  doc 
trine  of  the  metempsychosis  to  explain  the  beginning  and  root 
of  sin  in  humanity.  Herder,  Lessing,  Schubert,  and  Lichten- 
berg  seem  to  have  favored  it.  Van  Helmont,  the  younger,  who 
died  in  1699,  taught  it  in  Holland. 

Herder  has  some  remarkable  dialogues  on  the  subject  of 
metempsychosis  ;  and,  though  the  vein  of  them  is  tentative 
rather  than  dogmatic,  it  is  easy  to  see  the  drift  of  his  medita 
tions.  We  quote  a  few  passages:  — 

"In  nature  every  thing  is  related;  morals  and  physics,  like 
body  and  spirit.  Morality  is  only  a  more  beautiful  physique  of 
the  spirit.  Our  future  destination  is  a  new  link  in  the  chain 
of  our  being,  which  connects  itself  with  the  present  link  most 
minutely  and  by  the  most  subtile  progression,  as  our  earth  is 
connected  with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  with  our  earth.  .  .  . 

''  Perhaps  there  are  appointed  for  us  places  of  rest,  regions  of 
preparation,  other  worlds  in  which, —  as  on  a  golden  heaven- 
ladder, —  ever  lighter,  more  active  and  blest,  we  may  climb 
upward  to  the  fountain  of  all  light,  ever  seeking,  never  reach 
ing  the  centre  of  our  pilgrimage,  the  bosom  of  the  Godhead. 
For  we  are  and  must  ever  be  limited,  imperfect,  finite  beings. 
But  wherever  I  may  be,  through  whatever  worlds  I  may  be  led,  I 
shall  remain  for  ever  in  the  hands  of  the  Father  who  hath 
brought  me  hither  and  who  calls  me  further;  for  ever  in  the 
infinite  bosom  of  God.  .  .  . 

"  Hereafter,  when  death  shall  burst  these  bonds,  when  God 
shall  transplant  us  like  flowers  into  quite  other  fields,  and  sur 
round  us  with  entirely  different  circumstances,  then Have 

you  never  experienced,  my  friend,  what  new  faculty  a  new  situa 
tion  gives  to  the  soul?  A  faculty,  which,  in  our  old  corner,  in 
the  stifling  atmosphere  of  old  circumstances  and  occupations, 
we  had  never  imagined,  had  never  supposed  ourselves  capa 
ble  of?  .  .  . 

"  The  younger  Van  Helmont,  in  his  '  De  Revolutione  Ani- 
marum,'  has  adduced,  in  two  hundred  problems,  all  the  sayings 
and  all  the  arguments  which  can  possibly  be  urged  in  favor  of 


HERDER    ON    TRANSMIGRATION.  343 

the  return  of  souls  into  human  bodies  according  to  Jewish 
ideas.  .  .  .  These  assert  that  the  soul  returns  into  life  on  this 
planet  twice  or  thrice,  —  in  extraordinary  cases  oftener,  —  and 
accomplishes  what  it  had  left  unfinished.  .  .  .  And  is  there  no 
weight  in  the  arguments  from  reason  in  support  of  these  ideas? 
Shall  not  the  Long-suffering  and  the  Just  give  every  one  space 
and  time  for  repentance?  Has  not  the  fruition  of  life  been  to 
many  imbittered  and  abridged  without  any  fault  of  their  own  ? 

"Look  at  the  thing  humanly:  consider  the  fate  of  the  mi's- 
born,  the  deformed,  the  poor,  the  stupid,  the  crippled,  the  fear 
fully  degraded  and  ill-treated ;  of  young  children,  who  had 
scarce  seen  the  light  and  were  forced  to  depart.  Take  all  this 
to  heart,  and  you  must  either  have  weak  conceptions  of  the 
progress  of  such  people  in  the  world  to  come,  or  they  must  first 
have  wings  made  for  them  here,  that  they  may  learn  to  soar, 
even  at  a  distance,  after  others;  that  they  may  be,  in  some 
measure,  indemnified  for  their  unhappy,  or  unhappily  abbre 
viated  existence  in  this  world.  Promotion  to  a  higher,  human 
existence  is  scarcely  to  be  thought  of  in  their  case. 

"None  can  give  as  God  gives,  and  no  one  can  indemnify  and 
compensate  like  God.  To  all  beings  he  gave  their  existence  of 
his  own  free  love.  If  some  appear  to  have  been  more  neglected 
than  others,  has  he  not  places,  contrivances,  worlds  enough, 
where,  by  a  single  transplantation,  he  can  indemnify  and  com 
pensate  a  thousand-fold?  A  child  prematurely  removed,  —  a 
youth  whose  nature  was  too  delicate,  as  it  were,  for  the  rude 
climate  of  this  world,  —  all  nations  have  felt  that  such  are  loved 
by  the  gods,  and  that  they  have  transferred  the  treasured  plant 
into  a  fairer  garden.  .  .  .  How  many  may  have  been  made 
happy  in  another  world  through  having  been  unhappy  here !  " 

With  regard  to  the  Pythagorean  notion  of  the  transmigration  of 
souls  into  the  bodies  of  brute  animals,  Herder  says,  "  With  some 
nations,  —  for  example,  the  Egyptians  and  Hindoos;  and  per 
haps,  too,  with  Pythagoras,  —  it  was  designed  as  a  moral  fable, 
representing  the  doctrine  of  ecclesiastical  penance  in  a  sensuous 
and  comprehensible  form  :  "  You  who  are  cruel  shall  be  changed 


344  PLANCHKTTE. 

into  tigers,  as  even  now  you  manifest  a  tiger-soul.  You  who 
are  impure,  shall  be  swine,"  &c.  These  representations,  ad 
dressed  to  the  senses,  and  clothed  with  the  authority  of  religion, 
would,  undoubtedly,  have  a  greater  effect  than  metaphysical 
subtleties. 

(  "  Our  language,"  says  Herder,  "  all  communication  of  thought, 
what  bungling  work  it  is !  Hovering  on  the  tip  of  our  tongues, 
between  lip  and  palate,  in  a  few  syllabled  tones,  our  heart,  our 
innermost  soul  would  communicate  itself  to  another,  so  that  he 
shall  comprehend  us,  shall  feel  the  ground  of  our  innermost 
being.  Vain  endeavor!  Wretched  pantomime  with  a  few  ges 
tures  and  vibrations  of  air!  The  soul  lies  captive  in  its  dun 
geon,  bound  as  with  a  seven-fold  chain ;  and  only  through  a 
strong  grating,  and  only  through  a  pair  of  light  and  air-holes, 
can  it  breathe  and  see.  And  always  it  sees  the  world  on  one 
side,  while  there  are  a  million  other  sides  before  us  and  in  us, 
had  we  but  more  and  other  senses,  and  could  we  but  exchange 
this  narrow  hut  of  our  body  for  a  freer  prospect,  j  .  . 

"Sacred  to  me  is  the  saying,  'Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit, 
for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  they  that 
mourn,  for  they  shall  be  comforted.  Blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart,  for  they  shall  see  God.'  Purification  of  the  heart,  the 
ennobling  of  the  soul,  with  all  its  propensities  and  cravings; 
this,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  true  palingenesis  of  this  life,  after 
which,  I  doubt  not,  a  happy,  more  exalted,  but  yet  unknown 
metempsychosis  awaits  us.  Herewith  I  am  content." 

Schubert,  a  devoted  Spiritualist,  and  who  satisfied  himself  of 
the  genuineness  of  the  phenomena  produced  in  the  presence 
of  Mrs.  Hauffe',  the  Seeress  of  Prevorst,  wrote  the  "  History  of 
the  Soul."  His  psychological  views  are  not  unlike  those  we 
have  given  in  our  abstract  of  Mr.  Wake's  recent  work.  Schu 
bert  shows,  first,  how  the  soul  is,  as  it  were,  reflected  in  and  by 
the  body;  how  it  gives  form  and  perfection  to  our  material 
organization.  Next,  entering  upon  the  analysis  of  mind,  he  sets 
forth  the  distinction  between  the  soul  and  the  spirit;  a  distinc 
tion  which  St.  Paul  seems  to  have  recognized.  Origen  also 


LESSING    ON    PRE-EXISTENCE.  345 

regarded  the  soul  as  intermediate  between  body  and  spirit.  In 
the  Alexandrian  philosophy,  we  have  the  pneuma  denominated 
as  the  rational  soul,  and  the  psyche  as  the  sensitive  soul,  that 
which  desires  or  lusts.  Irenaeus  says,  "There  are  three  of 
which  the  perfect  man  consists:  flesh,  soul,  spirit;  the  one,  the 
spirit,  giving  figure ;  the  other,  flesh,  being  formed.  That, 
indeed,  which  is  between  these  two  is  the  soul,  which  some 
times  following  the  spirit  is  raised  by  it;  and  sometimes  con 
senting  to  the  flesh,  falls  into  earthly  lusts."  Dr.  George  Bush 
held  that  the  pneuma  is  to  the  psyche  what  the  soul  is  to  the 
body.  The  psyche  is  the  spiritual  body  or  body  of  the  spirit. 
This  view  does  not  differ  much  from  the»teachings  of  Kardec. 

Schubert  regarded  the  soul  as  the  inferior  part  of  our  intel 
lectual  nature,  —  that  which  shows  itself  most  distinctly  in  the 
phenomena  of  our  dreams,  —  the  power  of  which  also  is  situated 
in  the  material  constitution  (^  the  brain.  The  spirit,  on  the 
contrary,  is  that  part  of  our  nature  which  tends  to  the  purely 
rational,  the  lofty,  the  divine ! 

That  profound  and  intrepid  thinker,  Lessing,  who  anticipated 
by  a  century  much  of  the  advanced  thought  of  the  present,  re 
marks  as  follows  on  this  subject  of  pre-existence  :  "  Why  may 
not  each  individual  man  have  existed  more  than  once  in  this 
world?  Is  this  hypothesis,  therefore,  so  ridiculous  because  it  is 
the  oldest?*  because  it  is  the  one  which  the  human  understand 
ing  immediately  hit  upon  before  it  was  distracted  and  weakened 
by  the  sophistry  of  the  schools?  .  .  .  Why  should  I  not  return, 
as  often  as  I  am  able,  to  acquire  new  knowledges,  new  talents  ? 
Is  it  because  I  carry  away  so  much  at  one  time  as  to  make  it  not 
worth  the  while  to  return  ?  Or,  because  I  forget  that  I  have  been 
here  before  ?  It  is  well  for  me  that  I  forget  it.  The  remem 
brance  of  my  former  states  would  allow  me  to  make  but  a 
poor  use  of  the  present.  Besides,  what  I  am  necessitated  to  for- 

*  Delitzch  pronounces  this  statement  incorrect.  Franck,  on  the  other  hand,  says 
that  metempsychosis  was  the  earliest  form  in  which  the  dogma  of  immortality  pre 
sented  itself  to  the  human  mind.  But  again  we  find  immortality,  but  no  metempsycho 
sis,  in  the  most  ancient  poems  of  India,  the  "  Rig- Veda,"  for  example. 


346  PLANCHETTE. 

get  now,  have  I  forgotten  it  for  ever?  Or  because,  on  this  sup 
position,  too  much  time  would  be  lost  to  me?  Lost?  What  have 
I  then  to  fear  from  delay?  Is  not  the  -whole  eternity  mine?  " 

According  to  Herodotus,  the  Egyptians  were  the  first  to  enter 
tain  the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis.  They  believed  that  the 
soul  was  clothed  successively  with  the  forms  of  all  the  animals 
that  live  on  the  earth,  and  that  it  then  returned,  after  a  cycle  of 
three  thousand  years,  into  the  body  of  a  man  to  recommence  its 
eternal  pilgrimage.  From  them  the  Greeks  may  have  received 
the  idea,  which  was  a  leading  feature  of  the  doctrine  of  Pytha 
goras,  who  claimed  to  recollect  his  former  self  i'n  the  person  of  a 
herald  named  ^Ethalidesf  Euphorbus,  the  Trojan;  and  others; 
and  he  even  pointed  out,  in  the  temple  of  Juno,  at  Argos,  the 
shield  he  used  when  he  attacked  Patroclus.  He  taught  that  after 
the  rational  mind  of  man  is  freed  from  the  chains  of  the  body,  it 
assumes  an  ethereal  vehicle,  andPpasses  into  the  regions  of  the 
dead,  where  it  remains  till  it  is  sent  back  to  this  world  to  be  the 
inhabitant  of  some  other  body,  human  or  brutal ;  and  that  after 
suffering  successive  purgations,  when  it  is  sufficiently  purified, 
it  is  received  among  the  gods,  and  returns  to  the  eternal  source 
from  which  it  first  proceeded. 

Ritter  says  that  the  sum  of  the  Pythagorean  doctrine  of  im 
mortality  was  this,  —  that  condition  ivould  accurately  follow  char 
acter.  Pletho  states  that  the  Pythagoreans,  as  the  Platonists 
after  them,  conceived  the  soul  to  be  a  substance  not  wholly 
separate  from  all  body,  nor  wholly  inseparate ;  but  partly  separ 
ate,  partly  inseparate,  separable  potentially,  but  ever  inseparate 
actually. 

The  later  Pythagoreans  maintained  that  the  soul  has  a  life 
peculiar  to  itself,  which  it  enjoyed  in  common  with  demons  or 
spirits  before  its  descent  to  the  earth,  and  that  there  must  be  a 
degree  of  harmony  between  the  faculties  of  the  soul  and  the  form 
which  it  assumes  :  this  last  is  also  the  idea  of  Swedenborg. 

Plato,  in  his  "  Phsedo,"  maintains  pre-existence  of  the  soul  be 
fore  it  appears  in  man ;  and  of  this  pre-existent  condition  it 
retains  dim  reminiscences ;  and  after  death,  according  to  its 


PLATO'S  DOCTRINE.          9  347 

peculiar  qualities,  it  seeks  and  chooses  another  body.  Every 
soul,  according  to  him,  returns  to  its  original  source  in  ten 
thousand  years.  After  completing  each  life,  it  spends  a  thou 
sand  years  in  the  spiritual  world  in  a  condition  corresponding  to 
that  life,  after  which  it  passes  into  a  new  body  corresponding  to 
its  ethical  quality. 

"Plato's  conception  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,"  says 
Grote,  "  includes  pre-existence  as  well  as  post-existence;  a  per 
petual  succession  of  temporary  lives,  each  in  a  distinct  body, 
each  terminated  by  death,  and  each  followed  by  renewed 
life  for  a  time  in  another  body.  In  fact,  the  pre-existence  of  the 
mind  formed  the  most  important  rrart  of  Plato's  theory  about  im 
mortality ;  for  he  employed  it  as  the  means  of  explaining  how  the 
mind  became  possessed  of  general  notions.  Not  all  learning, 
but  an  important  part  of  learning,  consists  in  reminiscence ;  not 
indeed  of  acquisitions  made  in  an  antecedent  life,  but  of  past  ex 
perience  and  judgments  in  this  life.  Of  such  experience  and  judg 
ments  every  one  has  travelled  through  a  large  course ;  which 
has  disappeared  from  his  memory,  yet  not  irrecoverably.  Por 
tions  of  it  may  be  revived,  if  new  matter  be  presented  to  the 
mind,  fitted  to  excite  the  recollection  of  them,  by  the  laws  of 
association." 

According  to  Socrates,  priests,  priestesses,  and  poets  (Pindar 
among  them)  tell  us  that  the  mind  of  man  is  immortal,  and  has 
existed  through  all  past  time  in  conjunction  with  successive 
bodies. 

The  idea  of  metempsychosis  re-appears  in  the  speculations  of 
the  Neo-Platonists,  in  the  cabala  of  the  Jews,  and  in  the  teach 
ings  of  some  of  the  Church  Fathers.  Porphyry  conceives  that  it 
is  to  expiate  sins  committed  in  a  pre-existent  state  that  we  are 
now  clothed  with  a  body,  and  that  as  our  conduct  was  more  or 
less  culpable  we  assume  more  or  less  material  bodies.  By  fulfill 
ing  exactly  and  with  resignation  the  duties  imposed  upon  us,  we 
return  by  degrees  through  the  state  of  heroes,  angels,  archangels, 
&c.,  to  the  Supreme  Being.  There  is  also  a  descending  scale  of 
diabolical  life. 


34-S  PLANCHETTE. 

The  Cabalists  thought  that  the  destiny  of  every  soul  was  to 
return  into  mystical  union  with  the  divine  substance,  but  that  in 
order  to  do  this  it  must  first  develop  all  the  perfections  of  which 
it  has  the  germ  within  itself.  It  is  sent  through  life  after  life  till 
it  acquires  all  the  virtues  possible  to  it. 

Origen,  born  at  Alexandria,  A.D.  185,  distinctly  maintains 
the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis,  and  finds  in  it  the  final  cause  of 
creation.  In  his  view,  according  to  Gieseler,  the  Godhead  can 
never  be  idle.  Before  the  present  world  there  was  an  endless 
series  of  worlds,  and  an  infinite  succession  of  them  will  follow. 
All  intellectual  beings  were  originally  created  alike ;  but  they 
were  never  without  bodies,  since  incorporeality  is  a  peculiar  pre 
rogative  of  Deity.  After  a  great  moral  inequality  had  arisen 
among  them  by  their  difference  of  conduct,  God  created  the 
present  world,  which  affords  a  dwelling-place  to  all  classes  in 
proportion  as  they  answer  their  moral  condition.  The  fallen  in 
tellectual  beings  he  put  into  bodies  more  or  less  gross,  according 
to  the  measure  of  their  sinfulness.  Still  they  all  retain  their 
moral  freedom,  so  that  they  may  rise  again  from  the  degraded 
circumstances  in  which  they  exist.  Even  the  punishments  of  the 
condemned  are  not  eternal,  but  only  remedial;  the  devil  himself 
being  capable  of  amelioration  and  pardon.  When  the  world 
shall  have  answered  its  purpose  as  the  abode  of  fallen  spirits,  it 
will  then  be  destroyed  by  fire;  and  by  this  very  fire  souls  will  be 
completely  purified  from  all  stains  contracted  by  intimate  union 
with  the  body.  But  as  spirits  always  retain  their  freedom,  they 
may  also  sin  again,  in  which  case  a  new  world  like  this  will  be 
again  necessary;  the  earths  to  which  incarnated  spirits  are  sent 
corresponding  to  their  moral  condition. 

Evil,  according  to  Origen,  is  the  only  thing  which  has  the 
foundation  of  its  being  in  itself  and  not  in  God,  and  which  is, 
therefore,  founded  in  no  being,  but  is  nothing  else  than  an  es 
trangement  from  the  true  Being,  and  has  only  a  subjective  and 
no  objective  existence  at  all,  and  is  in  itself  nothing.  Therefore, 
he  says,  "The  proposition  of  the  Gnostic,  that  Satan  is  no 
creature  of  God,  has  some  truth  for  its  foundation;  namely,  this, 


ORIGEN  S    DOCTRINE.  349 

that  Satan,  in  respect  to  his  nature,  is  a  creature  of  God,  but  not 
as  Satan." 

Origen  set  his  theory  of  the  pre-existence  of  souls  in  opposi 
tion  to  creationism,  which  supposed  individual  souls  to  arise 
from  the  immediate  act  of  creation  on  the  part  of  God ;  for  this 
theory  appeared  to  him  irreconcilable  with  the  love  and  justice 
of  God,  which  maintains  itself  equally  towards  all  his  creatures; 
and  also  in  opposition  to  the  traducianism  of  Tertullian,  for  this 
theory  appeared  to  him  too  sensuous. 

He  infers  a  moral  destiny  of  the  embryo,  originating  in  a  pre- 
existent  state,  from  this  fact,  among  others ;  namely,  that  Jacob 
and  Esau,  while  yet  unborn,  and  prior  to  all  earthly  agency,  are 
objects  respectively  of  divine  love  and  hate. 

The  doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  souls  as  a  means  of  pen 
ance  was  held  by  the  Manicheans.  It  also  existed  among  the 
ancient  Italians,  the  Celtic  Druids,  the  Scythians  and  Hyperbo 
reans,  and  is  still  entertained  by  the  heathen  nations  of  Eastern 
Asia,  the  Caucasian,  and  other  tribes.  Coupled  with  the  notion 
of  transmigration  into  the  bodies  of  brutes,  among  the  ancient 
Egyptians  it  led,  as  it  still  does  with  the  Hindoos,  to  the  venera 
tion  of  certain  animals,  and  the  fear  of  eating  their  flesh,  since 
their  bodies  may  be  the  abode  of  departed  ancestors  and  friends. 
The  Pythagoreans  would  not  kill  animals  for  the  same  reason. 

Origen's  notion  of  earths  being  created  to  correspond  with  the 
moral  status  of  the  spirits  sent  to  be  re-incarnated  upon  them, 
has  been  recently  reproduced  in  the  speculations  of  an  English 
clergyman,  the  Rev.  William  Hume-Rothery,  who  furnishes  the 
following  statement  of  his  views  on  the  subject :  — 

"From  the  all-good  and  all-wise  Being,  who  is  the  only 
Creator,  nothing  of  evil  and  misery  can  possibly  proceed.  Yet 
in  this  world,  to  go  no  further,  we  do  find  an  awful  amount  of 
wickedness  and  wretchedness;  and  in  nature  itself,  which  none 
but  God  can  produce  and  presei've,  there  .are  deadly  poisons, 
savage  and  disgusting  animals,  famines  and  pestilences,  &c., 
which  certainly,  according  to  the  judgment  that  God  has  given 
us,  are  evils  and  blemishes  in  his  creation.  Now,  as  there  is 


35*  PLANCHETTE. 

but  one  Creator,  a  Being  of  spotless  purity  and  absolute  wisdom, 
how  can  evils  and  malformations  and  embodied  savagery  and 
consuming  maladies  and  the  entire  family  of  wrongs  come  into 
existence? 

"This  is  the  explanation:  God,  in  making  man,  endows  him 
with  free  will,  which  is  essential  to  manhood.  By  virtue  of  free 
will,  man  can  live  either  according  to  the  will  of  the  Creator,  or 
he  can  disobey  this  ever-righteous  will.  So  far  as  he  obeys  the 
Creator's  will,  to  that  extent  he  is  orderly  and  happy.  But  so 
far  as  he  opposes  the  divine  will,  in  that  same  degree  are  con 
fusion  and  misery  introduced  into  his  life  and  world.  The  soul, 
consisting  of  the  will  and  understanding,  is  the  primary  creation, 
being  that  which  is  usually  denominated  spirit;  the  body,  which 
is  the  soul  itself  developed  into  a  bodily  form,  is  the  next  pro 
ceeding  creation  ;  and  the  world,  comprising  the  three  kingdoms 
of  nature,  with  all  objects  of  the  senses,  is  the  ultimate  ground 
of  creation,  which  usually  goes  by  the  name  of  matter,  in  which 
the  states  of  the  soul  are  brought  down,  spread  out,  and  revealed 
in  a  region  of  space  and  time.  Thus  the  soul,  the  body,  and 
their  world  are  a  great  unit  of  life,  which  assumes  form  in  three 
different  degrees  or  planes,  but  is  distinctly  one.  Thus,  too, 
spirit  and  matter,  or  life  and  its  embodiments,  or,  which  is  ex 
actly  the  same,  life  and  its  phenomena,  are  the  beginning  and 
the  ending  of  a  human  being;  and  all  the  evils  and  disfigure 
ments  in  nature,  and  all  its  blessings  and  beauties,  are  the  em 
bodiments  and  revealments  of  blessings  and  curses  in  the  soul  of 
man;  good,  both  vital  and  phenomenal,  flowing  from  harmo 
nious  co-operation  with  the  Lord ;  and  evil,  both  spiritual  and 
natural,  being  pi~oduced  by  man's  violation  of  the  inflowing 
creative  life  of  God. 

"  Such  is  the  universal  order  of  creation.  Every  natural  world 
in  the  universe  is  the  effectuated  life  and  outward  revelation  of  a 
world  of  created  beirTgs.  Drearn-land  is  thus  created.  All  poet 
ical  imagery  is  brought  forth  after  this  manner.  The  wild  fan 
cies  of  the  drunkard,  which  are  called  delirium  tremens,  burst 
into  existence  in  this  way.  The  phenomena  of  death  owe  their 


PRE-EXISTENCE.  351 

birth  to  corresponding  changes  of  mental  state.  The  human 
soul  —  willing  and  thinking  here  on  the  lowest  platform  of  life, 
viz.,  that  of  effects  —  when  indrawn  by  the  Lord  into  a  deeper 
ground  of  affection  and  thought,  viz.,  that  of  causes,  is  evolved 
into  a  corresponding  body  and  a  corresponding  world,  in  which 
latter  its  inmost  states  are  represented  in  detail,  as  in  the  body 
they  are  represented  in  the  sum." 

On  the  subject  of  pre-existence,  Cudworth,  in  his  "  Intellectual 
System"  (1678),  remarks:  "It  is  well  known  that,  according  to 
the  sense  of  antiquity,  these  two  considerations  were  always  in 
cluded  in  that  one  opinion  of  the  soul's  immortality;  riamely, 
its  pre-existence  as  well  as  its  post-existence.  Neither  were 
there  ever  any  of  the  ancients  before  Christianity,  that  held  the 
soul's  future  permanency  after  death,  who  did  not  likewise  assert 
its  pre-existence,  —  they  clearly  perceiving  that  if  it  was  once 
granted  that  the  soul  was  generated,  it  could  never  be  proved 
but  that  it  might  be  corrupted.  And  therefore  the  assertors  of 
its  immortality  commonly  began  here,  —  first,  to  prove  its  pre- 
existence,  proceeding  thence  afterwards  to  establish  its  perma 
nency  after  death." 

"  To  admit,"  says  Schopenhauer  (1820),  "  that  that  which  has 
not  existed  during  an  infinite  period,  must  yet  continue  to  exist 
during  all  eternity,  is  certainly  a  very  bold  hypothesis.  That 
only  which  has  had  no  commencement,  or  is  truly  eternal,  can 
alone  be  indestructible.  The  Hindoos  are  more  consistent. 
While  they  admit  a  continuation  of  existence  after  death,  they 
also  believe  in  a  life  anterior  to*  our  birth  in  this  world,  and  de 
clare  that  all  which  is,  is  eternal." 

On  the  contrary,  Irenaeus  dogmatically  remarks  :  "  If  any  per 
son  maintain  that  those  souls  which  only  began  a  little  while 
ago  to  exist  cannot  endure  for  any  length  of  time,  but  that  they 
must  on  the  one  hand  either  be  unborn  in  order  that  they  may 
be  immortal;  or,  if  they  have  had  a  beginning  in  the  way  of  gen 
eration,  that  they  should  die  with  the  body  itself, — let  them 
learn  that  God  alone,  who  is  Lord  of  all,  is  without  beginning 
and  without  end." 


35 2  PLANCHETTE. 

"  Christianity,"  says  Mr.  J.  W.  Jackson,  "  notwithstanding  the 
large  infusion  of  Hellenism  by  which  it  is  characterized,  is  still 
so  essentially  Judaic  in  some  of  its  aspects,  that  it  has  never  yet 
dared  to  promulgate  the  great  Platonic  veracity  of  pre-existence 
(the  necessary  correlate  of  post-existence),  save  in  connection 
with  its  founder,  the  presumable  incarnation  of  the  eternal 
Logos.  .  .  .  Will  a  logically  and  metaphysically  trained  people 
be  satisfied  with  the  absurd  assurance  that  an  everlasting  exist 
ence  can  have  had  a  beginning  in  time?  .  .  .  The  Christian  will 
have  to  learn  that  his  boasted  doctrine  of  immortality  is  but  a 
half-truth,  the  mere  hemisphere  of  the  sublime  veracity  that  man, 
like  his  divine  Father,  is  not  only  immortal  but  also  eternal" 

With  regard  to  the  objection  that  so  much  must  be  obliterated 
from  man's  memory  before  he  can  be  born  with  his  anterior  ex 
periences  all  a  blank,  it  may  be  answered  that  the  facts  of  som 
nambulism  and  double  consciousness  offer  numerous  analogies 
with  such  a  dispensation.  Every  experienced  physiologist  must 
know  instances  wherein  whole  tracts  of  memory,  extending 
through  periods  of  many  years,  have,  by  physical  accident  or 
disease,  been  suddenly  obliterated,  and,  after  a  long  suspense, 
been  as  suddenly  restored.  The  cases  are  numerous  of  aged 
persons,  who,  in  their  dying  moments,  have  been  able  to  con 
verse  in  languages  which  they  had  utterly  forgotten  since  their 
early  childhood. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  what  the  great  Swedish  seer  has 
to  say  on  this  subject  of  pre-existence.  Swedenborg's  explana 
tion  is  as  follows:  "It  is  not  allowed  that  any  angel  or  spirit 
should  speak  with  man  from  his  own  memory,  but  only  from 
the  man's.  If  a  spirit  were  to  speak  with  a  man  from  his  own 
memory,  the  man  would  appropriate  the  spirit's  memory  as  his 
own,  and  his  mind  would  become  confused  with  the  recollection 
of  things  he  had  never  experienced.  In  consequence  of  the 
memories  of  spirits  getting  muddled  with  men's,  some  of  the 
ancients  conceived  the  idea  that  they  had  existed  in  another  realm 
previous  to  their  birth  on  earth.  Thus  they  accounted  for  the 
possession  of  memories  which  they  were  sure  had  not  originated 
in  ordinary  experience." 


CAHAGNET'S  THEORY.  353 

This  law,  it  is  suggested,  will  serve  as  a  reply  to  the  frequent 
complaint  that  in  spiritual  communications  we  have  nothing 
new  or  extra- human. 

It  is  the  theory  of  Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  the  highly  esteemed 
American  seer,  that  memory  is  something  more  than  a  mental 
faculty  of  registration ;  that  the  mind  is  a  compound  of  eternal 
principles,  each  of  which  being  from  God,  and  of  God,  is  self- 
intelligent,  from  which  intelligence  memory  is  inseparable. 
Thus,  Davis  holds  the  doctrine  of  the  pre-existence  of  the 
psychical  principle,  though  not  of  that  of  the  individualized 
spirit.  He  teaches  that  "  all  souls  existed  from  the  beginning 
in  the  divine  soul ;  all  individuality  which  is,  has  been,  or  will 
be,  had  its  pre-existence,  has  its  present  existence  in  creative 
being."  Thus  our  "  soul-matter "  had  an  existence,  but  not  a 
conscious  existence,  before  we  came  on  this  earth.  But  may  we 
not  say  the  same  of  all  "  soul  -  matter,"  whether  of  men  or 
brutes? 

M.  Cahagnet.  author  of  "  Arcanes  de  la  Vie  Future  De'voile's," 
bases  his  pneumatology  on  communications  supposed  to  be 
from  spirits,  and  obtained  through  clairvoyants  and  somnambu 
lists.  He  admits  pre-existence,  but  no  re-incarnation.  It  is  his 
theory  that  all  the  souls  in  the  universe  were  created  by  God  at 
once,  and  are  eternal,  as  well  as  immortal ;  that  they  were  all 
placed  in  worlds  of  perfect  happiness,  but  yet  not  with  all  their 
affections  and  faculties  called  forth;  and  that  they  are  sent  down 
to  worlds  of  material  life  for  discipline,  and  to  make  them  the 
better  appreciate  the  heaven  which  they  will  soon  regain ;  for 
without  experience  of  evil  they  cannot  properly  estimate  the 
good. 

He  does  not  admit  the  notion  of  the  non-existence  of  space 
and  time  in  the  spirit- world;  says  that  if  spirits  occupied  no 
space,  they  would  be  nothing;  and  if  there  were  no  time,  there 
could  be  no  succession  of  events.  These  errors,  he  says,  arise 
from  the  fact  that  the  rapid  action  of  spirits  is  incalculable  by 
our  time.  It  is  also  an  error  that  spirits  can  be  in  several  places 
at  the  same  time ;  but  they  can  transfer  themselves  from  place 

23 


354  PLANCH ETTK. 

to  place  with  such  speed,  and  can  communicate  with  other 
spirits  in  such  rapid  succession,  that  it  seems  to  take  place  at 
once.  A  spirit  can  see  the  whole  of  his  existence  in  a  moment, 
as  has  been  experienced  repeatedly  by  drowning  persons.  Sir 
Humphrey  Davy,  while  under  the  effect  of  the  nitric-oxide  gas, 
exclaimed,  "The  whole  human  organism  is  an  assemblage  of 
thoughts." 

In  our  remarks  on  psychometry,  in  a  future  chapter,  this  sub 
ject  will  be  considered  further. 

In  his  "  Conflict  of  Ages,"  Dr.  Edward  Beecher  advocates  the 
doctrine  of  pre-existence  in  the  interests  of  the  "Orthodox" 
theology,  and  in  the  hope  of  removing  "  the  causes  of  paralysis 
and  division  from  our  common  Christianity."  We  have  seen 
(page  303)  that  in  many  of  the  communications  supposed  to 
come  from  spirits,  moral  evil  is  regarded  as  a  means  of  educa 
tion.  In  the  philosophy  of  Hegel  (where  "each  his  dogma 
finds  "),  a  similar  view  is  taken  of  sin,  as  being  not  only  inci 
dent  to  human  nature,  but  one  of  the  appointed  means  of  its 
development  and  advancement.  Origen,  too,  regarded  all 
God's  penalties  as  simply  remedial,  and  believed  in  the  ulti 
mate  restoration  of  all  souls.  But  to  these  views  the  large 
majority  of  Christian  theologians  are,  as  we  have  seen,  opposed. 
Dr.  Beecher  himself  says,  "The  multitudes  who  are  saved  owe 
eternal  life  to  the  free  grace  of  God.  All  who  are  lost  perish 
entirely  by  their  own  original  revolt  from  QO&,  persisted  in  dur 
ing  this  life" 

Again  he  remarks,  "It  has  been  conceded  repeatedly,  that  the 
acts  ascribed  to  God,  in  his  dealings  with  the  human  race 
through  Adam,  do  appear  dishonorable  and  unjust,  according 
to  any  principles  of  equity  and  honor  which  God  has  made  the 
mind  of  man  to  form.  And  yet,  simply  on  the  basis  of  Rom.  v. 
12-19,  and  without  any  adequate  search  for  a  more  legitimate 
mode  of  interpretation,  good  men  have  for  ages  gone  on  to 
ascribe  these  acts  to  God.  .  .  .  Notice,  then,  the  full  confession 
of  the  great  body  of  the  Church,  that  the  only  defence  against 
the  charge  of  doing  this  has  been  the  theory  that  all  men  had 


REYNAUD.  355 

forfeited  their  rights  as  new-created  beings,  by  '  an  act  over  which 
they  had  not  the  slightest  control,  and  in  which  they  had  no 
agency,'  and  which  took  place  before  they  existed ;  and  also  the 
confession  of  Calvin,  that  nothing  is  so  remote  from  common 
sense  as  this  defence;  and  of  Pascal,  that  nothing  appears  so 
revolting  to  our  reason.  .  .  .  And,  now,  is  it  nothing  practical 
that  pre-existence  can  deliver  the  Church  at  once  from  such  a  state 
of  things  ?  " 

Dr.  Beecher  is  solicitous  for  the  deliverance  of  the  Church 
from  a  dilemma  that  outrages  his  reason.  But  a  deliverance 
that  would  still  require  the  hypothesis  of  an  eternity  of  hell  tor 
ments  for  nine-tenths  of  the  human  race,  is  hardly  an  improve 
ment  on  the  theology  that  would  make  us  all  subject  to  damnation 
because  of  the  sin  of  Adam.  Reason  asks  for  a  more  "  practi 
cal"  exhibition  than  that  which  Dr.  Beecher's  plan  would  sup 
ply  of  the  resources  of  Infinite  Wisdom  and  Love. 

It  is  with  a  sense  of  relief,  therefore,  that  we  turn  from  his 
ingenious  attempt  to  extenuate  the  theological  notion  of  eternal 
damnation  by  grafting  on  it  the  doctrine  of  pre-existence,  to  the 
celebrated  "  Terre  et  Ciel"  (Earth  and  Heaven)  of  Jean-Ernest 
Reynaud  (born  1806).  This  eloquent  writer  goes  far  to  exhaust 
both  the  theological  and  the  philosophical  argument  in  behalf 
of  pre-existence.  He  believes  in  the  continuity  of  human  life 
through  successive  incarnations,  with  the  perpetual  progress  of 
nature  and  of  man  towards  God.  always  infinitely  removed. 

In  no  other  work  on  the  subject  are  the  objections  to  pre- 
existence  so  ably  met,  or  the  theory  itself  made  so  attractive  by 
the  charms  of  a  persuasive  style  and  by  appropriate  exposi 
tions,  scientific,  historical,  and  religious. 

"Terre  et  Ciel"  has  been  ably  reviewed,  if  not  answered,  by 
M.  Caro  in  his  "Etudes  Morales  sur  le  Temps  Present;"  and 
has  called  forth  the  denunciations  of  some  of  the  doctors  and 
bishops  of  the  Church.  To  these  Reynaud  has  replied  in  a  man 
ner  to  indicate  that,  in  theological  discussion,  he  is  entirely 
at  home.  He  shows  that  the  Church  has  left  this  subject  of  pre- 
existence  an  open  question;  and  that  St.  Augustine  himself, 


356  PLANCHETTE. 

who  is  sometimes  quoted  against  it,  had  not,  in  his  old  age, 
made  up  his  mind  in  regard  to  it. 

Reynaud  utterly  rejects  the  theological  notion  of  hell.  This 
earth  he  regards  as  a  specimen  of  the  only  kind  of  hell  to  which 
God  will  subject  his  children,  and  the  object  of  his  placing  us 
here  is  not  penal,  but  disciplinary  and  with  a  view  to  progress. 
Rejnaud  does  not  agree  with  Origcn  that  we  are  here  in  the 
way  of  a  descent  from  what  we  have  been  in  an  anterior  life. 
On  the  contrary,  we  are  here  in  an  ascending  passage. 

"We  are  not,"  says  Reynaud,  "sinners  because  we  are  the 
sons  of  Adam  :  we  are  the  sons  of  Adam  because  we  are  sin 
ners."  It  may  be  more  gratifying  to  our  self-love  to  think  that 
we  are  suffering  here  through  the  fault  of  Adam  rather  than 
through  our  own ;  but  by  such  a  sentiment  we  derogate  from 
divine  justice. 

From  the  infinity  of  the  universe,  Reynaud  argues  in  favor  of 
his  system.  The  infinity  of  creation  is  an  earnest  of  the  immor 
tality  of  intellectual  beings.  The  very  great  and  the  very  little 
are  both  conditioned  alike  in  view  of  infinity.  Strong  in  the 
consciousness  of  our  spiritual  dignity,  we  may  feel  ourselves 
superior  to  all  merely  material  grandeurs,  however  stupendous, 
and  we  may  look  upon  the  vortices  of  the  firmament,  with  its 
systems  behind  systems,  with  the  same  regard  that  we  look  on 
whirlwinds  of  dust. 

Let  us  not  suppose  that  these  immense  separations  between 
planetary  worlds  and  systems,  which,  in  view  of  the  velocity  of 
our  freed  spirits,  have  hardly  the  thickness  of  partitions,  are 
insuperable  abysses.  It  is  not  to  the  soul  that  they  are  barriers, 
but  only  to  those  organs  to  which  our  souls  are  temporarily 
united.  All  these  worlds  are  but  one  for  the  immortal  soul. 
Thanks  to  that  infinity  in  which  mere  plurality  is  lost,  the 
principle  of  unity,  overshadowed  for  an  instant  by  that  of 
number,  re-assumes  the  plenitude  of  its  empire;  and,  as  there 
is  but  one  God,  there  is  but  one  heaven.  The  fixity  of  this 
heaven  is  in  the  unalterable  order  of  its  changes;  its  incorrupti 
bility  is  in  its  permanence ;  its  immateriality  is  in  the  immensity 


THE    THEOLOGICAL    HELL.  357 

of  its  extent.  And  this  earth  which  we  tread  under  our  feet; 
where  we  come,  turn  by  turn,  to  accomplish  our  task,  in  com 
pany  with  our  kind;  upon  which  we  appear,  without  remember 
ing  whence  we  come  ;  from  which  we  disappear,  without  knowing 
whither  we  go;  where  we  live,  without  being  able  to  say  with 
certainty  who  or  what  we  are,  —  this  earth  rolls  through  the 
heavens,  is  one  of  the  elements  of  the  heavens,  and  constitutes 
us  residents  of  the  heavenly  expanse.  Let  us  give  back  to  re 
ligion  the  eloquent  words  which  Kepler,  breaking  through  the 
vaults  of  the  antique  firmament,  traced  as  a  line  of  light  in  his 
"Harmonies,"  to  illumine  astronomical  science  for  ever:  PIoc 
enitn  ccelum  est,  in  quo  viviimis  et  movemur  et  sutitus,  nos  et  omnia 
miindana  corpora,  —  "For  this  is  heaven,  in  which  we  live  and 
move  and  are,  we  and  all  mundane  bodies." 

The  lot  assigned  to  us  on  earth,  Reynaud  tells  us,  is  far  more 
tolerable  than  that  which  would  be  ours  in  the  theological 
heaven,  were  it  out  of  our  power  to  aid  still  in  mitigating  suffer 
ing  and  evil ;  for  here,  in  spite  of  all  the  obstacles  that  impede 
us,  we  are  free  at  least  to  yield  to  the  noble  instinct  which  bids 
us  help  all  suffering  creatures  ;  free  to  expect  confidently  from  the 
bounty  of  God  the  end  of  all  that  evil,  the  view  of  which  afflicts 
us.  The  thought  of  relatives,  friends,  fellow-creatures,  suffering 
in  hell  while  we,  on  our  heavenly  heights,  had  no  power  to  help 
them,  would  be  like  that  paralysis  we  have  in  nightmare,  when 
we  cannot  move  to  avert  some  terrible  danger,  and  when  we 
strive  to  cry  out  in  our  despair.  Such  a  state  would  itself  be 
the  most  frightful  of  punishments;  and  so  Reynaud  repudiates 
the  common  theological  notion  of  hell  as  blasphemous,  revolt 
ing,  unsound. 

"While  waiting,"  says  Reynaud,  "the  illuminations  of  the 
higher  life,  I  content  myself  with  concluding,  from  the  ordinary 
simplicity  of  Providence  in  the  execution  of  his  designs,  thnt 
the  souls  of  the  departed  will  find  themselves  carried  where 
their  merits  or  demerits  may  make  it  fitting,  by  means  as  easy 
and  spontaneous  as  those  which  govern  matter;  mounting  of 
their  own  accord  to  a  higher  condition  or  descending  to  a  lower, 


PLANCHETTK. 


conformably  to  the  rules  of  justice,  in  the  same  manner  as 
bodies,  by  reason  of  their  variations  in  weight,  mount  or  descend 
in  our  atmosphere.  .  .  . 

"If,  in  the  succession  of  the  various  phases  of  our  immor 
tality,  repose  may  sometimes  become  the  recompense  of  the 
just,  it  must  be  on  condition  of  its  being  but  a  transient  alterna 
tive  ;  a  refreshment,  as  it  were,  after  fatigue,  and  serving  to 
repair  the  strength  for  new  and  nobler  efforts." 

In  opposition  to  the  general  theological  notion,  he  maintains 
that  the  superior  life,  instead  of  being  one  of  passive  beatitude, 
will  be  one  of  sovereign  activity  ;  and  the  more  active,  the  more 
elevated  it  is  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  more  nearly  akin  to  that  divine 
model  whose  life  overflows  with  an  indefatigable  activity  through 
all  the  worlds.* 

"And  so  heaven  is  not  a  permanent  dwelling:  it  is  a  road; 
and  the  celestial  hierarchy  which  fills  it,  ascends  unceas 
ingly,  like  a  column  of  incense.  But  what  fate  awaits  us  at 
the  extremity  of  this  road?  And  what  is-  the  end  of  all  this 
movement?  Is  it  God,  within  whose  abysses  sdlils  go  succes 
sively  to  merge  themselves,  as  the  theologians  of  Bouddha,  in 
their  insensate  mysticism,  have  dreamed  ;  and  not  only  they, 
but  many  others,  who,  even  under  the  discipline  of  the  Church, 
misled  by  an  imaginary  love  of  God,  have  fallen  into  a  like 
spiritual  suicide? 

"  It  is  just  here  that  Christianity  triumphs  ;  for  on  this  capital 
question  it  is  Christianity  alone  that  gives  us  the  true  lesson. 
No,  says  this  superior  religion  :  it  is  not  God  who  occupies 
this  mysterious  summit;  it  is  God  and  man  together;  it  is  the 
simultaneous  type  of  the  two  natures;  it  is  the  God-Man;  and, 
if  the  theologian  will  have  his  own  expression,  it  is  the  divine 
exemplar,  Jesus  Christ.  And  so,  even  at  this  inaccessible  sum- 

*  Reynaud's  language  here  reminds  us  of  a  remarkable  passage  in  the  writings  of 
Origen,  where  he  attributes  all  existence,  whether  of  men  or  of  the  lower  animals,  to  il  the 
exuberant  fulness  of  life  in  the  Deity,  which,  through  the  blessed  necessity  of  his 
communicative  nature,  empties  itself  into  all  possibilities  of  being,  as  into  so  many 
receptacles." 


REYNAUD.  359 

mit,  it  is  always  man;  man  conceived  by  faith  in  the  double 
perfection  of  his  personal  development  and  of  his  personal 
union  with  the  second  hypostasis;  man,  finally,  such  as  he  is 
when  in  perfect  accord  with  and  well -pleasing  to  God.  Man 
is  therefore  the  master  of  his  own  endless  elevation.  At  any 
degree  in  his  sublime  ascension,  neither  does  his  personality, 
nor  his  activity,  nor  his  perfectibility  have  a  tendency  to  be 
engulfed  and  lost;  for  always,  high  above  him,  he  sees  the  ideal 
of  man,  the  ineffable  archetype  of  creation,  the  common  model 
of  all  the  free  beings  of  the  universe.  .  .  . 

"But  shall  friends  and  relatives  be  re-united?  Nothing  can 
prevent  our  so  ordering  our  existences  as  to  travel  for  ever  in 
company,  through  the  abysses  of  the  universe,  with  all  those 
we  love. 

"  Friends,  relatives,  parents,  if  you  have  profoundly  at  heart 
the  wish  not  to  lose  one  another  by  death,  bind  yourselves  to 
gether  in  the  same  life,  the  same  morality,  and  the  same  hopes ; 
and  you  will  rejoin  one  another  there  above,  even  as  you  were 
associated  here.  .  .  . 

"  Even  in  our  birth  we  are  free,  for  it  is  we  who  determine  the 
conditions.  If  we  resemble  our  parents,  it  is  because  we  resem 
bled  them  virtually  before  we  were  born.  If  we  find  ourselves 
in  prosperous  or  adverse  circumstances,  it  is  because  these  are 
such  as  are  best  adapted  to  our  progress  and  our  needs.  Let  us 
be  consoled  therefore  in  the  thought  that  there  is  no  fatality 
weighing  upon  us ;  that  there  are  no  evils  to  which  we  are  now 
subjected,  from  which  we  may  not,  by  the  good  government  of 
our  actions,  deliver  ourselves  radically  at  death."  .  .  . 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  our  ignorance  ?  "  Not  only  is 
memory  powerless  in  regard  to  the  times  that  preceded  our 
birth  into  this  world,  but  it  is  not  capable  of  representing  to  us 
even  the  times  that  followed  that  event.  It  tells  us  nothing 
of  the  period  passed  at  the  maternal  bosom.  It  fails  us  in  a 
multitude  of  instances.  Beyond  the  cradle  all  is  as  dark  as  be 
yond  the  tomb.  .  .  . 

*'  And  yet  who  shall  venture  to  say  that  our  being  may  not 


360  PLANCHKTTK. 

contain  within  its  profundities  the  wherewith  to  illumine  some 
day  all  those  spaces  successively  traversed  by  us  since  our  first 
hour?  Do  we  not  find,  even  in  the  experiences  of  this  present 
life,  that  certain  recollections,  which  seemed  absolutely  extin 
guished,  revive  all  at  once,  and  render  back  to  us  a  past  which 
we  had  supposed  lost  for  ever?" 

The  facts  of  Spiritualism,  as  we  shall  see  in  a  succeeding 
chapter,  abundantly  confirm  the  hypothesis  here  suggested. 
And,  were  it  not  so,  is  it  so  certain  that  our  identity  is  abso 
lutely  dependent  on  the  formal  presentations  of  our  memory? 
"Do  we,"  says  Pierre  Leroux,  "  in  any  phenomenon  whatsoever 
of  our  lives,  have  at  the  same  time  memory  of  all  preceding  phe 
nomena?"  No,  he  replies:  we  are  then  occupied  with  a  certain 
object,  and  our  anterior  life  escapes  us ;  and  memory  is  but  a 
past  fact  of  our  life  perceived  by  us  as  present.  Therefore  our 
identity,  our  personality,  our  ego,  is  not  a  product  of  memory. 
To  remember  is  but  an  accidental  phenomenon  of  this  ego,  the 
same  as  to  perceive,  to  see,  to  judge,  &c.  .  .  .  "But  why,"  asks 
Chaseray,  "  may  not  the  memory,  like  the  attention,  the  medita 
tive  faculty,  the  judgment,  like  all  the  intellectual  faculties  we 
possess,  and  like  all  the  new  ones  we  may  acquire,  follow  the  law 
of  progress,  and,  from  life  to  life,  go  on  improving  and  gaining 
in  extent?  "  Analogy  shows  that  this  may  well  be. 

We  continue  our  quotations  from  Jean  Reynaud  :  — 

"That  astonishing  faculty  then  which  we  call  memory,  is  of  a 
nature  to  preserve  for  us  in  the  depths  of  our  being,  and  un 
known  to  ourselves,  impressions  which,  from  the  fact  of  their 
having  momentarily  ceased  to  be  disposed  in  a  manner  to  come 
up  at  our  appeal,  continue  none  the  less  to  make  part  of  our  do 
main,  where  they  abide,  as  it  were,  dormant;  and  hence,  why 
should  it  not  be  the  same  with  the  action  of  this  faculty  in 
regard  to  events  which  have  preceded  the  actual  period  of  our 
existence  here?  .  .  . 

"  The  body,  through  the  senses  with  which  it  is  furnished, 
is  needed  for  conveying  impressions  to  the  soul ;  but  as  to  the 
preservation  of  those  impressions,  that  is  no  longer  the  body's 


REYNAUD.  361 

affair.  It  is  the  soul  which  has  received ;  it  is  the  soul  which 
keeps  them. 

"  Our  own  experience  offers  confirmation  of  the  fact.  Is  there 
in  the  organs,  by  means  of  which  we  are  to-day  in  communica 
tion  with  the  universe,  I  will  not  say  simply  a  single  molecule, 
but  a  single  form,  which  belonged  to  the  organs  which  served  us 
in  infancy?  Since  that  period,  how  many  bodies  has  not  our 
vital  faculty  taken  to  itself,  used,  dissipated !  And  yet,  in  spite 
of  all  these  mutations,  does  not  the  soul  preserve  its  memory? 
How  many  things  there  are  on  which  I  had  not  thought  for 
years,  which  I  had  let  fall  completely  from  my  remembrance, 
but  which,  all  at  once,  in  association  with  places  or  with  per 
sons,  or  roused  by  an  effort  of  attention,  start  up  and  re-appear 
to  me  !  Is  there  not  here  an  indication  of  what  may  be  produced 
hereafter  in  sublime  proportions? 

"  Notwithstanding  those  apparent  interruptions  of  such  mo 
ment  to  us,  and  which  the  vulgar  in  trembling  call  death,  our 
life,  considered  not  in  its  earth-bound  span  of  a  day,  to  which 
the  prejudices  of  our  education  reduce  it,  but  in  its  infinite  line, 
is  in  reality  as  continuous  in  all  its  development  as  in  the  short 
period  laid  bare  to  us  between  the  cradle  and  the  tomb.  .  .  . 

"In  admitting  even  what  our  present  experience  may  lead  us 
to  conclude  in  regard  to  the  suspension  of  all  remembrance  of 
anterior  existences, — this,  namely,  that  death  must  produce  on 
unprepared  natures  the  effect  of  a  heavy  blow,  and  that,  in  strik 
ing,  it  stuns  the  memory,  — yet  to  stun  it,  is  not  to  annihilate  it. 
After  a  suspension  of  days,  months,  or  years,  the  memory  may 
recover  itself.  The  fact  that  we  may  have  no  reminiscence  of 
anterior  existences  noiv  is  no  reason  why  we  may  not  have  it  at 
some  future  time.  .  .  . 

"Each  one  of  us  carries  in  his  actual  form  and  organism  the 
secret  history  of  his  anterior  emotions  ;  so  accurately,  that  spirit 
ual  eyes,  penetrating  to  the  depths  of  our  being,  see  at  a  glance 
all  that  we  have  been  in  all  that  we  are. 

"Our  history  therefore  is  not  only  in  that  Book  of  Life  which 
theologians  put  irr  the  hands  of  God;  it  is  inscribed  in  our  very 


362  PLANCHETTE. 

substance;  our  being  itself  is  the  unfailing  record  we  carry  with 
us,  from  stage  to  stage,  through  the  worlds.  .  .  . 

"It  is  wholly  arbitrary  to  suppose  that  immortality  preserves 
life  without  preserving  at  the  same  time  the  faculty  of  repentance 
equally  with  all  others.  The  quibbles  by  which  we  may  try  to 
justify  the  hypothesis  of  the  abandonment  of  the  damned,  may 
be  employed  with  equal  force  to  support  the  idea  that  God  ought 
to  abandon,  without  remission,  every  culpable  soul,  even  in  this 
life.  The  culpable  soul  is  not  blinded  more  irremediably  after 
halting  passed  through  death  than  it  -ivas  before  ;  for  death  is  but 
an  accident,  as  incapable  of  changing  the  nature  of  the  soul  as  of 
changing  the  disposition  of  God.  That  which  the  soul  was  on 
the  eve  of  death,  it  will  be  the  next  day.  .  .  .  ^-A^!-'» 

"  In  reflecting  on  the  spectacle  of  the  universe,  such  as  it  pre 
sents  itself  to  us  from  the  point  of  view  of  modern  times,  it  seems 
to  me  that  the  mind  is  naturally  disposed  to  conclude  that  there 
must  exist  a  first  series  of  worlds  more  or  less  analogous  to  this 
earth,  in  which  the  souls  of  men,  at  their  entrance  on  the  limit 
less  career  which  opens  before  them,  still  frail  arid  not  attaching 
themselves  firmly  enough  to  the  laws  of  duty,  find  themselves 
exposed  to  the  discipline  of  temptation,  succumb  to  it  or  else 
triumph  over  it;  little  by  little  advance,  in  the  way  of  ameliora 
tion,  from  one  world  to  another,  in  the  midst  of  trials  always 
proportioned  to  the  degree  of  feebleness  and  culpability,  and 
arrive  at  last,  after  labors  more  or  less  prolonged,  at  the  merit 
of  being  admitted  into  the  ivorlds  of  the  higher  scries.  There 
shall  be  accomplished  the  definitive  deliverance  from  all  evil : 
the  love  of  the  good  shall  henceforth  be  so  paramount  that  no 
one  shall  lapse  from  it;  but  all,  on  the  contrary,  animated  by  the 
desire  of  elevating  themselves,  and  seconded  in  their  efforts'  by 
the  incessant  grace  of  God  and  the  co-operation  of  the  blissful 
societies  in  the  bosom  of  which  they  live  amid  all  the  splendors 
of  nature,  shall  display  to  this  end  the  activity  of  all  their  vir 
tues,  and  draw  nearer  by  a  continual  progress,  more  or  less  rapid, 
according  to  the  energy  of  each  individual,  to  the  infinite  type 
of  perfection.  .  .  . 


ADVOCATES    OF    TRANSMIGRATION.  363 

"It  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  that  there  is  no  tradition 
which  throws  a  light  so  clear  as  this  on  the  ideas  of  liberty,  of 
personality,  of  immortality.  Delivered  from  all  arbitrary  con 
straint,  man  presents  himself  as  the  direct  author  of  his  destiny: 
not  the  sport  of  fatality,  not  the  victim  of  original  sin,  it  is  the 
individual  himself  -who  has  determined  in  an  anterior  life  the  ini 
tial  conditions  of  his  present  life,  even  as  he  is  to  determine  in  this 
the  conditions  of  his  life  to  come  ;  and  the  terrestrial  world,  with 
its  diversities  of  good  and  of  evil,  gives  us  the  image  of  that 
world  we  run  the  risk  of  entering  to-morrow,  unless  we  have 
known  how  to  qualify  ourselves  for  something  higher.  Above 
the  region  of  troubled  and  confused  existences  in  which  forgetful- 
ness  takes  place,  from  re-birth  to  re-birth,  expands  the  region  of 
luminous  existences,  in  which  memory,  acquiring  all  its  force, 
renders  to  each,  with  the  full  possession  of  his  past,  the  full 
identity  of  his  person,  his  completed  individuality." 

Such  is  the  theodicy  of  "Terre  et  Ciel."  If  the  author  is  not 
always  successful  in  his  endeavor  to  make  his  liberal  philosophy 
harmonize  with  the  theology  of  the  Church  by  compelling  old 
dogmas  to  assume  a  new  and  spiritual  aspect,  we  cannot  deny  to 
him  the  merit  of  investing  this  ancient  theory  of  the  pre-exist- 
ence  and  transmigration  of  souls  with  a  fresh  and  abiding  inter 
est.  His  work  has  passed  through  six  editions  in  France,  and  is 
deserving  of  an  English  version.  In  our  own  renderings  of 
detached  passages,  we  have  done  it  but  slender  justice. 

Pierre  Leroux,  the  associate  of  Reynaud  in  editing  a  philo 
sophical  dictionary,  was  an  eloquent  advocate  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  transmigration  of  souls.  Of  recent  French  works,  in 
which  the  same  doctrine  is  proclaimed,  we  have  "  Du  Spiritual- 
isme  Rationnel,  par  G.  H.  Love  (1862);"  "La  Raison  du 
Spiritisme,  par  Michel  Bonnainy  (1868);"  "Conferences  sur 
I'Ame,  par  Alexandre  Chaseray  (1868)."  The  author  of  the  last- 
named  work  does  not  appear  to  either  admit  or  deny  the  recent 
phenomena.  From  his  two  concluding  pages,  we  quote  the  fol 
lowing  resume  of  his  views  :  — 

"  All  discussion  relative  to  Deity,  to  the  government  of  the 


364  PLANCHETTK. 

world,  to  the  origin  and  end  of  things,  can  result  in  nothing 
conclusive,  for  its  object  surpasses  the  reach  of  human  intelli 
gence.  Besides,  every  proposition  of  this  nature  is  of  a  second 
ary  interest  for  man.  Upon  all  these  points,  I  declare  myself  a 
positivist.  In  my  opinion,  the  only  question  veritably  important 
in  philosophy,  consists  in  knowing  whether  ive  have  an  immortal 
soul.  I  am  still  so  far  a  positivist  in  this,  that  I  dismiss  the 
Spiritualism  of  St.  Thomas  and  of  Descartes  as  undemonstrated 
and  undemonstrable,  and  that  I  recognize  the  method  of  physical 
observation  as  alone  capable  of  conducting  to  certitude.  But 
science  is  as  yet  very  uncertain ;  and  I  cannot  resign  myself  to 
v/ait,  when  the  question  for  us  is  between  nothingness  and 
eternal  life.  I  have  then,  provisionally,  recourse  to  those  meta 
physical  reasonings  which  render  as  very  probable  the  continu 
ance  of  the  soul  at  death.  I  attach  myself  with  ardor  to  that 
verity  which  physiology,  I  do  not  doubt,  will  one  day  make  clear 
to  all. 

"This  capital  point,  immortality,  being  then  sufficiently 
established  by  metaphysics,  we  remain  in  the  presence  of  two 
principal  systems  in  respect  to  the  destiny  of  the  soul :  that 
of  one  single  life  followed  by  an  eternity  of  recompenses  or  of 
chastisements ;  and  that  of  an  indefinite  series  of  re-births,  per 
mitting  a  progress  slow  and  continuous. 

"Justice,  reason,  good  sense,  militate  in  favor  of  this  latter 
system,  which  I  adopt,  in  company  with  a  crowd  of  emerited 
thinkers.  And  so  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  universal 
solidarity  of  intelligent  beings,  their  free  will,  and  their  succes 
sive  transformations,  according  to  the  good  or  bad  exercise  of 
this  free  will,  —  such  is  my  philosophical  programme.  My 
thought,  firmly  established  on  this  basis,  remains  calm  and 
serene,  and  has  so  remained  through  long  years,  catching 
glimpses  of  a  future  without  end,  and  of  felicities  less  sudden, 
less  abruptly  marvellous  than  those  of  the  Christian  heaven, 
but  which  satisfy  both  my  reason  and  my  taste  more  fully,  and 
of  which  the  hope  is  not  counterbalanced  by  the  frightful  risk 
of  a  fall  to  the  bottom  of  an  infernal  abyss." 


INSTINCTIVE    ASPIRATIONS.  365 

In  his  way  to  these  conclusions,  Chaseray  says, — 

"  I  shall  not  invoke  the  reasoning  which  consists  in  saying, 
'The  soul  is  a  substance  simple,  immaterial,  and  indivisible; 
consequently  it  cannot  perish,  since  death  is  a  decomposition,  a 
disjunction  of  parts.'  This  reasoning  is  good  only  for  Spiritual 
ists,*  for  it  accepts  as  admitted  a  contested  point;  this,  namely, 
that  there  exist  immaterial  substances,  and  that  the  soul  is  an 
immaterial  substance. 

"  Here,  you  see  the  weak  side  of  metaphysics.  It  reasons  ;  but 
as  it  is  compelled  to  take  its  stand  on  an  hypothesis,  a  sup 
position,  we  ruin  its  reasoning  in  contesting  the  truth  of  its 
premises.  .  .  . 

"  A  proof  of  the  duration  of  the  soul,  which  is  more  gen 
erally  admitted,  is  that  which  springs  from  the  aspiration  of 
man  towards  the  Infinite.  The  aspiration  of  a  being,  it  is 
said,  is  the  measure  of  its  destiny.  Now,  the  aspirations  of  man 
being  without  bounds,  it  follows  that  his  destiny,  too,  is  limit 
less." 

"  M.  Flourens  draws  a  similar  conclusion  from  the  infinite 
problems  which  the  human  mind  strives  in  vain  to  solve. 
'  These  problems,'  he  says,  '  which  we  cannot  solve  in  this 
world,  must  have  their  solution  in  another  ;  and  here,  if  I 
mistake  not,  we  have  one  of  the  surest  signs  that  there  is 
another.' " 

"Where,  in  the  plan  of  creation,"  asks  Reimar,  "do  we  find 
instincts  falsified?  Where  do  we  see  an  instance  of  a  creature 
instinctively  craving  a  certain  kind  of  food,  in  a  place  where  no 
such  food  can  be  found?  Are  the  swallows  deceived  by  their 
instinct  when  they  fly  away  from  clouds  and  storms  to  seek  a 
warmer  country?  .  .  .  Yes:  the  voice  of  Nature  does  not  utter 
false  prophecies.  .  .  .  And  if  this  be  true  with  regard  to  the 
impulses  of  physical  life,  why  should  it  not  be  true  with  regard 
to  the  superior  instincts  of  the  soul  ?  " 

*  By  Spiritualists,  Chaseray  here  means  those  who  are  such  through  metaphysics  ; 
not  Spiritualists  through  the  phenomena  of  somnambulism,  and  the  powers  manifested 
by  mediums,  seers,  &c. 


366  PI.AN'CHETTE. 

Chaseray  objects  to  that  refined  Spiritualism  which  would 
reject  all  notion  of  actual  space  -  falling  substance.  Because 
anatomists  can  detect  nothing  that  leaves  the  body  after  death, 
he  does  not  admit  that  nothing  may  actually  be  disengaged. 
To  combat  the  notions  of  the  extreme  materialists,  who  deny 
the  existence  of  a  soul,  he  becomes  himself  a  materialist,  to  a  cer 
tain  extent ;  that  is  to  say,  he  considers  man  as  composed  of  two 
principal  elements,  a  body  and  a  soul,  of  which  the  one,  aftet 
death,  remains,  by  its  very  grossness,  perceptible  to  the  eye, 
and  which  follows  the  dissolution  of  its  parts  and  their  transfor 
mation  into  new  principles,  animal  or  vegetable,  and  of  which 
the  other  escapes  the  view  and  the  touch  by  its  subtilty.  "Let 
us  distrust,"  he  says,  "our  imperfect  senses:  there  are  so  many 
substances  which  we  can  neither  see  nor  feel !  Let  us  not  go  so 
far  as  to  deny  the  duality  of  the  human  being,  because  the 
scalpel  of  the  anatomist  is  impotent  to  make  a  principle  emi 
nently  subtile  reveal  itself  to  our  eyes. 

"  If  this  principle  really  exists,  and  if  the  soul  is  material, 
does  it  necessarily  follow  that  it  is  mortal?  No:  man  is  not 
necessarily  pushed  into  nothingness  in  the  hypothesis  of  mate 
riality.  '  Though  man  should  be  wholly  nothing  but  matter,' 
says  Charles  Bonnet,  in  his  '  Essai  Analytique,'  '  he  would  be 
none  the  less  perfect,  r^one  the  less  a  candidate  for  immortality.' 
This  was  also  the  opinion  of  George  Salzer,  who  sought  to 
prove  that  the  immortality  of  the  soul  does  not  depend  exclu 
sively  on  its  simplicity;  that  a  materialist,  who  admits  a  soul 
distinct  from  the  body,  might  attribute  to  this  soul  another  life 
after  our  terrestrial  death." 

It  is,  then,  through  mistake,  that  some  writers  maintain  that 
if  the  soul  survives  the  body,  it  must  be  because  it  is  imma 
terial.  The  question  of  immortality  is  not  necessarily  bound 
up  in  that  of  spirituality.  The  philosophers  of  antiquity,  and  all 
the  early  Fathers  of  the  Church,  believed  in  a  material  or  cor 
poreal  soul ;  and,  among  the  moderns  who  believed  the  same, 
we  may  cite  Averroes,  Politian,  Pomponatius,  Cardan,  Viviani, 
Hobbes. 


MATTER    AND    SPIRIT.  367 

"  Our  soul."  says  Irenoeus,  "  is  not  incorporeal  except  in  com 
parison  with  gross  bodies."  "The  matter  of  the  soul  consists 
in  heat,"  says  Lactantius.  "The  soul  is  nothing,  if  it  is  not  a 
body,"  says  Tertullian.  NihiL  si  non  corpus !  In  the  third  cen 
tury,  Roger  Bacon  recognized  a  spiritual  matter  and  a  corporeal 
matter,  a  spiritual  form  and  a  corporeal  form.  It  was  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  who  first  introduced  into  the  Church  the  doc 
trine  of  pure  Spiritualism ;  and,  according  to  him,  millions  of 
spirits  might  find  room  to  dance  on  the  point  of  a  needle.  Des 
cartes  did  the  same  for  philosophy. 

From  the  writings  of  Cabanis,  Broussais,  and  Aza'is,  the  lead 
ing  materialists  of  the  early  part  of  this  century,  Chaseray 
says  that  passages  favorable  to  the  idea  of  an  immortal  soul 
may  be  produced.  Cabanis,  for  example,  who  sees  nothing  but 
organism,  who  explains  all  by  organism,  who  regards  the  brain 
"as  an  organ  designed  specially  to  produce  thought,  as  the 
stomach  and  intestines  are  to  accomplish  digestion,  the  liver  to 
filtrate  bile,"  &c.,  cannot  at  last  avoid  the  declaration,  that 
to  bring  all  this  about,  to  give  life  to  this  carcass,  there  must  be 
"  a  principle  or  vivifying  faculty  which  nature  fixes  in  the  germs 
or  spreads  in  the  seminal  fluids."  In  a  posthumous  letter,  he  is 
still  more  explicit.  "It  is  impossible  for  us  to  affirm,"  he  says, 
"that  the  dissolution  of  the  organs  involves  that  of  the  moral 
system,  and,  above  all,  of  the  cause  which  renders  us  susceptible 
of  perception;  since  we  do  not  know  it  in  any  manner,  and  in 
all  probability  are  interdicted  from  ever  knowing  it.  Now,  it 
suffices  for  those  who  would  establish  the  persistence  of  this 
cause  after  the  destruction  of  the  living  body,  that  the  contrary 
opinion  cannot  be  demonstrated  by  positive  arguments" 

Rather  more  modest  was  the  profound  Cabanis  than  the  im 
petuous  Messrs.  Vogt,  Buchner,  and  Moleschott,  who  cannot 
repress  their  indignation  because  people  will  still  heed  this  old 
wives'  story  of  a  future  state. 

M.  Aza'is  is  a  materialist  of  a  still  more  decided  type;  and  he 
says,  "The  soul  which  resides  in  the  central  part  of  the  brain 
is  formed  by  the  agency  of  the  organs  of  sense,  and  by  the 


368  PI.ANCHETTE. 

magnetic  commerce  of  these  organs  with  external  beings."  And 
vet  this  philosopher  does  not  draw  from  his  premises  the  con 
clusion  which  we  might  expect;  namely,  that  the  destruction 
of  the  organs  involves  the  dispersion  of  ideas,  and  the  complete 
annihilation  of  the  intelligent  being.  On  the  contrary,  he  says, 
"While  time  enfeebles,  alters,  destroys  the  body  of  the  sage,  it 
perfects  his  soul ;  and.  this  progress  indicates  a  high  destiny. 
It  is,  in  reality,  the  soul  of  the  sage  which  is  the  ultimate  object 
of  the  composition  of  the  world;  it  is  the  soul  of  the  sage 
which  ought  to  be  strengthened  and  preserved  by  the  laws 
which  govern  the  universe.  No  other  result  would  be  worthy 
of  this  sublime  work." 

The  physiologists,  too,  are  claimed  by  Chaseray  in  support  of 
his  views. 

Charles  Bonnet,  the  great  naturalist  and  physiologist  (1720- 
1793),  believed,  like  most  modern  Spiritualists,  that  to  maintain 
the  human  personality,  which  must  consist,  above  all,  in  the 
memory,  and  to  maintain  a  link  between  the  present  and  the 
future  state  of  man,  there  must  be  an  ethereal  and  indestructible 
body  to  which  the  soul  remains  united  after  death,  and  which  is 
the  germ  of  the  new  body  destined  to  perfect  the  faculties  of 
man  in  another  life. 

M.  Flourens  has  declared  that  the  "  bad  philosophies  must 
not  pretend  to  find  their  support  in  physiology." 

Alfred  Maury,  after  allowing  these  words  to  escape  him, 
namely,  "The  intelligence  is,  after  all,  a  function  of  the  brain," 
hastens  to  add,  in  a  note,  "  I  do  not  pretend  to  deny  the  action 
of  the  soul,  but  I  would  remark  that  this  action  is  always  closely 
connected  with  the  play  of  the  organism." 

Milne  Edwards  says,  that  he  does  not  regard  the  organiza 
tion  as  being  all  in  the  economy  of  living  bodies. 

M.  Gratiolet  writes,  "The  system  which  best  satisfies  com 
mon  sense,  is  that  which  admits  the  individuality  of  souls  and 
their  existence  independently  of  a  certain  body." 

Finally,  the  celebrated  professor,  Rodolph  Wagner,  says  at 
Gottingen,  in  the  midst  of  an  assembly  of  savants,  "The  moral 


HOSTILE    CAMPS    OF    SCIENCE.  369 

which  flows  from  materialism  is  this  :  Let  us  eat  and  drink;  to 
morrow  we  shall  be  no  more." 

Other  savants,  somewhat  numerous,  it  must  be  admitted,  the 
Vogts,  Rostans,  Buchners,  Robins,  Moleschotts,  persist  in  see 
ing  in  the  phenomenon  of  thought  nothing  more  than  a  cere 
bral  function,  a  pure  effect  of  organism. 

"To  think  without  a  brain,"  objects  M.  Etienne  Vacherot, 
"  seems  to  me  as  great  a  miracle  as  to  feel  without  a  nervous 
system,  and  to  perceive  without  organs." 

"And  yet,"  retorts  Chaseray,  "  this  sort  of  miracle  is  accom 
plished  every  day;  and  the  least  contested  phenomena  of  som 
nambulism  and  animal  magnetism  subvert  the  biological  notions 
based  on  the  ordinary  state  of  man.  The  organism  would  seem 
to  be  the  instrument  indispensable  for  the  exercise  and  develop 
ment  of  the  faculties  of  the  soul,  rather  than  the  condition  neces 
sary  for  the  existence  of  these  same  faculties.  Without  organism, 
the  soul  is  in  repose;  it  may  be  compared  to  the  engineer  with 
out  a  locomotive  to  conduct,  or  the  musician  without  an  instru 
ment  on  which  to  perform. 

"This  hesitation  of  science,  this  division  of  the  doctors  into 
t-wo  camps,  denotes  the  absence  of  positive  proofs  on  either  side, 
and  consequently  leaves  subsisting  in  their  entirety  the  meta 
physical  and  moral  proofs  which  make  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  so  probable.  We  must  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  imposed 
on  by  the  audacity  of  these  organizationists" 

If  M.  Chaseray  would  acquaint  himself  with  the  great  facts 
recorded  in  this  volume,  he  would  see  that  the  "audacity"  of 
these  organizationists  is,  as  we  have  shown  from  their  own  ad 
missions,  wholly  based  on  their  denial,  or,  as  we  contend,  their 
ignorance,  of  phenomena  known  at  this  time  to  several  million 
intelligent  contemporaries. 

But  M.  Chaseray  is  not  without  hope  of  a  scientific  proof  of 
the  fact  of  the  soul's  immortality.  He  says,  "The  day  when 
physiology  shall  have  proved  the  existence  of  the  soul,  shall 
have  made  it  appear  that  an  incorruptible  substance  separates 
itself  at  death  from  the  discarded  organism,  this  proposition 

24 


37°  PLANCHETTE. 

will  pass  from  the  domain  of  metaphysics  into  that  of  the  posi 
tive  sciences;  from  probable  it  will  become  certain.  I  do  not 
despair  of  this  success." 

Christian  Garve,  a  German  writer  (1742-1798),  seems  to  have 
entertained  a  belief  not  unfavorable  to  the  theory  of  progressive 
existences.  lie  writes,  "The  greatest  encouragement  to  intel 
lectual  progress  arises  from  our  belief  in  one  supreme  Fountain 
of  Wisdom,  toward  which  we  may  continually  advance ;  while, 
as  we  reverently  approach  that  Source  of  mental  light,  the 
obscurities  hanging  about  our  present  defective  vision  will 
gradually  pass  away.  Without  such  a  faith,  I  must  look  upon 
the  world  from  a  melancholy  point  of  view. 

"  I  behold  around  me  a  vast  universe  crowded  with  innumera 
ble  objects  of  interest,  all  possessing  powers  and  qualities  of 
which  myself  and  my  fellow-creatures  can  only  understand  a 
minute  part. 

"Is  there  not  a  Supreme  Mind  which  comprehends  the  whole 
more  perfectly  than  we  understand  the  minutest  portions  of  it? 
If  I  doubt  this,  how  hopeless  must  appear  my  efforts  toward 
intellectual  satisfaction !  For  how  can  I,  in  my  short  life,  hope 
to  gain,  by  the  slow  process  of  experimental  inquiry,  a  knowl 
edge  of  this  vast  world  around  me,  or  to  answer  the  deepest 
questions  which  my  own  rational  nature  suggests?  If  myself, 
and  other  finite  creatures  like  myself,  are  the  only  intellectual 
beings,  how  little  can  we  ever  know  of  ourselves  and  of  the 
universe ! 

"Is  it  not  more  cheering  to  believe  that  the  rays  of  light  in 
our  own  mind  descend  from  one  central  Sun,  than  to  imagine 
that  our  finite  minds  are  the  only  illumined  spots  amid  a  wide 
creation  left  in  darkness?  ...  If  this  picture  of  the  world  were 
true,  what  proportion  would  there  be  between  the  massive  and 
innumerable  objects  of  material  nature,  and  the  few  intellectual 
beings  called  mankind !  .  .  .  Let  us  believe  that  as  our  feeble 
corporeal  frames  are  surrounded  and  supported  by  a  vast  mate 
rial  world,  so  our  finite  minds  are  under  the  sway  of  an  infinite 
intellectual  Power.  We  shall  now  see  a  just  proportion  between 


AN    AMERICAN    PLATONIST.  37 1 

mind  and  matter.  The  world  now  becomes  a  noble  object  of 
unceasing  study.  The  attainment  of  truth  appears  at  least 
possible." 

Among  those  American  Spiritualists  who  accept  the  pure 
Platonic  doctrine  of  pre-existence,  if  not  of  metempsychosis, 
we  may  mention  A.  Bronson  Alcott,  a  rare  example,  in  these 
times,  of  the  veritable  sage.  He  writes  :  "  Every  creature  assists 
in  its  own  formation,  souls  being  essentially  creative,  and  crav 
ing  form.  .  .  . 

"Throughout  the  domain  of  spirit,  desire  creates  substance, 
wherein  all  creatures  seek  conjunction,  lodging,  and  nurture. 
Nor  is  there  any  thing  in  nature,  save  desire,  holding  substances 
together;  all  things  being  dissolvable  and  recombin-able  in  this 
spiritual  menstruum.  .  .  . 

"Under  the  sway  of  occult  forces  we  partake  of  preternatural 
insights,  having  access  to  sources  of  information  unopened  to 
us  in  our  wakeful  hours.  Vast  systems  of  sympathies,  ante 
dating  and  extending  beyond  our  mundane  experiences,  absorb 
us  within  their  sphere,  relating  us  to  other  worlds  of  life  and 
light. 

"  For  never  is  the  sleep  so  profound,  the  dream  so  distracting, 
as  to  obliterate  all  sense  of  the  personality;  despite  these 
vagaries  of  the  night,  these  opiates  of  the  senses,  memory 
sometimes  dispels  the  oblivious  slumbers,  and  recovers  for  the 
mind  recollections  of  its  descent  and  destiny.  Some  reliques 
of  the  ancient  consciousness  survive,  recalling  our  previous  his 
tory  and  experiences.  .  .  . 

"Ancient  of  days,  we  hardly  are  persuaded  to  believe  that 
our  souls  are  no  older  than  our  bodies,  and  to  date  our  nativity 
from  our  family  registers,  as  if  time  and  space  could  chronicle 
the  periods  of  the  immortal  mind  by  its  advent  into  the  flesh 
and  decease  out  of  it.  .  .-•*  : 

"None  of  us  remember  when  we  did  not  remember,  when 
memory  was  nought  and  ourselves  were  unborn.  Memory  is 
the  premise  of  our  sensations  :  it  dates  our  immortality.  .  .  . 

"Moreover,  the  insatiableness  of  our  desires  asserts  our  per- 


372  PLANCHETTE. 

sonal  imperishableness.  Yearning  for  full  satisfactions,  while 
balked  of  these  perpetually,  we  still  prosecute  our  search  for 
them,  our  faith  in  their  attainment  remaining  unshaken  under 
every  disappointment.  Our  hope  is  eternal  as  ourselves,  —  a 
never-ending,  still-beginning  quest  of  our  divinity.  Infinite  in 
essence,  we  crave  it  in  potence.  The  boundlessness  and  elas 
ticity  of  the  mind,  its  power  of  self-recovery,  uprise  from  tem 
porary  obstructions,  self-  imposed  or  from  temperament,  are 
assurances  made  doubly  sure  of  our  soul's  infinitude  and  lon 
gevity.  .  .  . 

"  '  Every  thing  aspires  to  its  own  perfection,  and  is  restless  till 
it  attain  it,  —  as  the  trembling  needle  till  it  find  its  beloved 
north.  And  the  knowledge  of  this  is  innate  as  is  the  desire, 
else  the  last  had  been  a  torment  and  needless  importunity. 
Nature  shoots  not  at  rovers.  Even  inanimate  things,  while 
ignorant  of  their  perfection,  are  carried  toward  it  by  a  blind 
impulse.  But  that  which  conducts  them  knows.  The  next 
order  of  beings  have  some  sight  of  it,  and  man  most  perfectly 
till  he  touch  the  apple.'  Our  delights  suckle  us  life-long,  our 
desires  being  memories  of  past  satisfactions ;  and  we  here  but 
sip  pleasures  once  tasted  to  satiety.  .  .  . 

"  Still  heaven  is,  our  hearts  affirm  against  every  disappoint 
ment;  and  whether  behind  or  before  us,  as  memory  or  as  hope, 
'tis  to  be  ours;  our  port  and  resting-place  sometime  in  the 
stream  of  ages." 

The  poets  have  often  availed  themselves  of  the  Platonic  theory 
of  pre-existence.  Virgil,  in  the  Sixth  Book  of  his  ^Eneid, 
teaches  very  distinctly  the  doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of 
souls.  "These  souls,"  says  Anchises,  "destined  for  other 
bodies,  drink,  in  the  waters  of  Lethe,  a  long  oblivion  of  things 
past."  Robert  Southey,  in  one  of  his  published  letters,  re 
marks,  "I  have  a  strong  and  lively  faith  in  a  state  of  continued 
consciousness  from  this  stage  of  existence;  and  that  we  shall 
recover  the  consciousness  of  other  stages  through  which  we 
previously  may  have  passed,  seems  to  me  not  improbable." 
And  again  he  writes,  "The  system  of  progressive  existences 


POETS    ON    PRE-EXISTENCE.  373 

seems,  of  all  others,  the  most  benevolent;  and  all  that  we  do 
understand  is  so  wise  and  so  good,  and  all  we  do,  or  do  not,  so 
perfectly  and  overwhelmingly  wonderful,  that  the  most  benevo 
lent  system  is  the  most  probable." 

In  his  novel  of  "  Lucretia,"  Lord  Lytton  observes:  "What 
we  call  eternity  maybe  but  an  endless  series  of  those  transitions 
which  men  call  deaths;  abandonments  of  home  after  home,  ever 
to  fairer  scenes  and  loftier  heights.  Age  after  age,  the  spirit, 
that  glorious  nomad,  may  shift  its  tent,  fated  not  to  rest  in  the 
dull  Elysium  of  the  heathen,  but  carrying  with  it  evermore  its 
elements,  —  activity  and  desire.  Why  should  the  soul  ever  re 
pose  ?  .  .  .  Labor  is  the  purgatory  of  the  erring ;  and  it  is  none 
the  less  the  heaven  of  the  good." 

Walter  Scott,  in  his  diary,  under  the  date  of  Feb.  17,  1828, 
remarks,  "  I  cannot,  I  am  sure,  tell  if  it  is  worth  marking  down, 
that  yesterday,  at  dinner-time,  I  was  strongly  haunted  by  what 
I  would  call  the  sense  of  pre-existence,  in  a  confirmed  idea  that 
nothing  which  passed  was  said  for  the  first  time." 

Tennyson  repeatedly  refers  to  this  mood;  and  in  "The  Pre 
lude,"  by  Wordsworth,  we  find  the  following  passage  :  — 

"  Our  childhood  sits, 
Our  simple  childhood,  sits  upon  a  throne 
That  hath  more  power  than  all  the  elements. 
I  guess  not  what  this  tells  of  Being  past, 
Nor  what  it  augurs  of  the  life  to  come." 

In  his  "Intimations  of  Immortality,  from  Recollections  of 
Early  Childhood,"  Wordsworth  is  still  more  direct  in  his  refer 
ence  to  that  key  to  many  mysteries,  the  doctrine  of  pre- 
existence  :  — 

"  Our  birth  is  but  a  sleep  and  a  forgetting  : 

The  soul  that  rises  with  us,  our  life's  star, 
Hath  had  elsewhere  its  setting, 

And  cometh  from  afar : 
Not  in  entire  forgetfulness, 

And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 
But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come 

From  God  who  is  our  home." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

PSYCHOMETRY. 

"  'Tis  immortality  deciphers  man, 
And  opens  all  the  mysteries  of  his  make. 
Without  it,  half  his  instincts  are  a  riddle ; 
Without  it,  all  his  virtues  are  a  dream." —  Young. 

1?  VERY  step  taken  in  advance  by  science  is  in  harmony  with 
rlr^  the  great  facts  which  Spiritualism  reveals.  We  think  that 
our  popular  friend,  Agassiz,  notwithstanding  his  exhibition  of 
vexation  when  he  found  he  could  not  manipulate  the  spiritual 
phenomena  as  easily  as  he  could  some  rare  specimens  of  cod 
and  haddock,  was  nearly  right  when  he  said,  "  We  trust  that 
the  time  is  not  distant  when  it  will  be  universally  understood 
that  the  battle  of  the  evidences  will  have  to  be  fought  on  the 
field  of  physical  science,  and  not  on  that  of  the  metaphysical." 

The  further  science  carries  its  analysis,  the  more  does  the 
material  world  lose  that  character  of  rigidity  which  our  external 
senses  attach  to  it;  and  the  more  does  it  seem  plastic  under 
spiritual  laws.  Modern  chemistry  has  shown  us  that  all  solid 
bodies  may  exist  as  aeriform ;  that  even  iron  may  be  converted 
into  an  invisible  gas  ;  and  the  diamond  which  to  our  senses  is 
inert,  ponderable  matter,  may  be  volatilized  in  the  fire  of  the 
burning  mirror  so  as  to  develop  neither  smoke  nor  cinders. 
On  the  other  hand,  fire,  essentially  volatile,  can  be  condensed 
in  the  calcination  of  metals,  so  as  to  become  ponderable. 

From  these  facts,  De  Montlosier  deduces  the  interesting  con 
clusion,  that  all  the  bodies  of  the  universe  might  be  volatilized 
and  made  to  disappear  in  those  spaces  which  our  ignorance  calls 
the  void ;  and  that,  in  its  turn,  what  we  call  the  void  might  be 


CAUSE    OF    CONFUSION    OF    IDEAS.  375 

condensed,  so  that  the  number  of  the  celestial  bodies  might 
be  multiplied  a  hundred-fold;  and,  through  all  this,  the  uni 
verse  would  not  have  changed  in  its  nature  and  essence,  though 
it  would  be  changed  in  its  phenomenal  aspect. 

One  of  the  most  eminent  physiologists  of  the  day,  Schroeder 
van  cler  Kolk,  remarks:  "In  my  opinion,  this  untoward  distinc 
tion  between  the  material  and  the  immaterial  has  singularly 
contributed  to  confuse  our  ideas.  Should  we  not  proceed  more 
surely  in  distinguishing  in  nature  that  -which  it  is  possible  for  us 
to  perceive  by  the  senses,  and  that  -which  escapes  their  scrutiny  ? 
Who  gives  us  the  right  to  admit  that  the  limits  of  nature  do  not 
go  beyond  those  of  our  organs!" 

Everywhere,  under  the  appearance  of  concretion  and  hard 
ness,  living  elemental  forces  are  latent,  and  the  slightest  varia 
tion  in  the  equilibrium  and  correlation  of  these  might  alter  the 
face  of  the  universe,  and  the  most  solid  substances  might  vanish 
like  a  dream. 

In  the  remote  distances  between  the  planets,  there  is  no  inac 
tive  void.  "The  space,"  says  Oersted,  "  is  filled  by  ether  and 
penetrated  by  the  attractive  forces  by  which  the  whole  universe  is 
held  together.  The  ether  itself  is  an  ocean,  whose  waves  form 
light,  that  great  connecting  link  which  conveys  messages  from 
globe  to  globe  and  from  system  to  system.  The  wonders  un 
ravelled  by  science  prove  that  we  are  not  isolated  beings,  but 
that  we  are  related  to  the  whole  universe." 

Thus  science  comes  in  to  confirm  that  great  deduction  of 
Spiritualism,  which  assures  us  of  the  solidarity  of  all  life  and 
intelligence  in  whatever  world  or  system  they  may  be  devel 
oped, —  that  we  none  of  us  are  aliens  in  God's  universe,  but  cos 
mopolitans,  entitled  to  the  freedom  of  the  whole  of  it;  ay,  born 
to  make  all  the  past  and  all  the  future  our  heritage;  our  ear 
nestness  and  our  efforts  being  always  the  measure  of  our  acquisi 
tions  in  goodness  and  in  knowledge.  And  for  this  infinite  work 
we  have  an  eternity  before  us. 

Besides  the  assurances  of  immortality  which  Spiritualism 
gives,  in  revealing  to  us  the  phenomena  of  spiritual  action  and 


PLANCHETTK. 

intelligence,  it  offers  an  added  and  more  important  confirmation 
in  the  revelation  it  makes  of  powers  in  the  human  soul,  which 
proclaim  that  it  is  not  merely  the  creature  of  space  and  time, 
but  that  in  eternity  and  infinity  is  to  be  found  its  native  atmos 
phere  ;  and  that  such  are  its  capacities  of  clairvoyance,  that  not 
only  the  remotest  planet,  but  the  past  eternities,  may  be  hereafter 
scanned  by  its  unconditioned  vision.  The  argument  for  immor 
tality,  drawn  from  these  capacities,  has  already  been  presented, 
and  it  seems  to  us  unanswerable. 

Another-stupendous  fact,  which  the  phenomena  we  have  been 
dealing  with  disclose,  is  this,  —  and  it  is  one  which,  more  than 
all  other  considerations,  except  the  consciousness  that  God  sees 
us,  ought  to  keep  us  from  defiling  the  soul  by  any  act  which  in 
our  better  moments  we  may  deplore,  — Memory  is  imperishable  ; 
and  all  thought  and  all  action  leave  their  eternal  record  in  the 
organic  structure  of  our  very  souls.  Nothing  happens,  not 
the  most  fleeting  and  seemingly  trivial  occurrence  of  our  lives, 
that  may  not  be,  ages  and  aeons  hence,  reproduced  to  our  own 
consciousness,  as  well  as  to  that  of  others,  independently  of  our 
own  will  or  co-operation. 

"  There  is  a  power,"  says  Voltaire,  "  that  acts  within  us  with 
out  consulting  us." 

Much  goes  on  in  the  soul,  of  which  consciousness  takes  no 
note  at  the  time;  but  all  mental  processes,  conscious  or  un 
conscious,  leave  their  record,  and  that  record  is  ineffaceable. 
Modern  physiologists  tell  us  of  "  latent  thought,"  of  "  uncon 
scious  cerebration,"  of  the  "  automatic  action  of  the  mind,"  &c. ; 
and  Dr.  Maudsley  says,  that  "consciousness  is  not  co-extensive 
with  mind;"  that  "mental  power  is  being  organized  before 
the  supervention  of  consciousness  ;  "  and  that  "  the  preconscious 
action  of  the  mind,  and  the  unconscious,  are  facts  of  which  self- 
consciousness  can  give  us  no  account."  —  "  The  brain  not  only 
receives  impressions  unconsciously,  registers  impressions  with 
out  the  co-operation  of  consciousness,  elaborates  materials 
unconsciously,  calls  latent  residua  again  into  activity  without 
consciousness,  but  it  responds  also  aa  an  organ  of  organic  life 


MARVELS    OF    MEMORY.  377 

to  the  internal  stimuli  which  it  receives  unconsciously  from 
other  organs  of  the  body." 

All  this  is  true,  but  not  the  whole  truth.  It  is  but  a  partial 
view  of  the  facts.  Consciousness  may  not  take  note  at  the 
moment  of  all  this  unconscious  or  automatic  action,  but  it  is 
inscribed  where  consciousness  can  read  it  in  some  supreme 
moment,  God's  moment,  perchance,  when  long  latent  memories 
start  up  with  a  vividness  that  commands  the  concentration  of 
all  our  faculties  in  one  effort  of  attention.  We  have  heard  how, 
when  persons  are  drowning,  the  incidents  of  a  lifetime  pass  in 
a  few  seconds  before  the  mental  ken.  We  ourselves  experi 
enced  the  sensation  once,  when  we  anticipated  instant  death 
from  an  accident  in  a  carriage. 

In  his  "  Biographia  Literaria,"  Coleridge  mentions  a  case, 
also  authenticated  by  Abercrombie,  of  a  young  and  ignorant 
woman  who,  during  a  fever,  talked  incessantly  in  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew;  and  who,  as  it  was  afterwards  discovered,  had 
lived  with  a  learned  man,  who  was  a  great  Hebraist. 

"This  authenticated  case,"  says  Coleridge,  "furnishes  both 
proof  and  instance,  that  reliques  of  sensation  may  exist  for  an 
indefinite  time,  in  a  latent  state,  in  the  very  same  order  in  which 
they  were  originally  impressed;  and  as  we  cannot  rationally 
suppose  the  feverish  state  of  the  brain  to  act  in  any  other  way 
than  as  a  stimulus,  this  fact  (and  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
adduce  several  of  the  same  kind)  contributes  to  make  it  even 
probable  that  all  thoughts  are  in  themselves  imperishable ;  and 
that,  if  the  intelligent  faculty  should  be  rendered  more  compre 
hensive,  it  would  require  only  a  different  and  apportioned  organi 
zation,  the  body  celestial  instead  of  the  body  terrestrial,  to  bring 
before  every  human  soul  the  collective  experience  of  its  whole 
past  existence.  And  this,  perchance,  is  the  dread  book  of  judg 
ment,  in  the  mysterious  hieroglyphics  of  -which  every  idle  ivord  is 
recorded. 

"  Yes,  in  the  very  nature  of  a  living  spirit,  it  may  be  more  pos 
sible  that  heaven  and  earth  should  pass  away,  than  that  a  single 
act,  a  single  thought,  should  be  loosened  or  lost  from  that  living 


3/S  PJ.ANCHETTE. 

chain  of  causes,  with  all  the  links  of  which,  conscious  or  uncon 
scious,  the  free  will,  our  only  absolute  self,  is  co-extensive  and 
co-present." 

"All  mental  activities,  all  acts  of  knowledge,"  says  Sir  Wil 
liam  Hamilton,  "which  have  been  once  excited,  persist;  -we 
never  wholly  lose  them,  but  they  become  obscure.  This  obscura 
tion  can  be  conceived  in  every  infinite  degree,  between  incipient 
latescence  and  irrecoverable  latency.  The  obscure  cognition 
may  exist  simply  out  of  consciousness,  so  that  it  can  be  recalled 
by  a  common  act  of  reminiscence.  Again,  it  may  be  impossible 
to  recover  it  by  an  act  of  voluntary  recollection ;  but  some  asso 
ciation  may  revivify  it  enough  to  make  it  flash  after  a  long  ob 
livion  into  consciousness.  Further,  it  may  be  obscured  so  far 
that  it  can  only  be  resuscitated  by  some  morbid  affection  of  the 
system;  or,  finally,  it  may  be  absolutely  lost  for  us  in  this  life, 
and  destined  only  for  our  reminiscence  in  the  life  to  come." 

The  facts  of  clairvoyance  go  to  prove  that  the  "  absolute  loss," 
of  which  Sir  William  speaks,  does  not  take  place  even  in  this 
life.  Sir  William  was  somewhat  in  advance  of  our  Cambridge 
professors.  He  was  well  persuaded  of  the  essential  facts  of  clair 
voyance.  "However  astonishing,"  he  says,  "zV  is  now  proved 
beyond  all  rational  doubt  that,  in  certain  abnormal  states  of  the 
nervous  organism,  perceptions  are  possible  through  other  than 
the  ordinary  channels  of  the  sense." 

In  his  essay  on  the  "  Philosophical  Teaching  of  Magnetism," 
M.  Dupotet  says,  "Let  thy  actions  be  virtuous;  for  know  that 
thy  soul  will  remember  them  all  thy  after  life  on  earth,  and  the 
remembrance  of  them  will  be  ineffaceable.  Not  on  sand  are 
human  actions  engraven,  but  in  the  conscience.  Whatsoever 
thou  shalt  have  thought,  shall  be  known  by  all  ivho  -wish  to  kno~v 
it.  For  thee  no  more  dissimulation  is  possible;  no  longer  any 
mask.  As  thou  wilt  be  able  to  read  in  others,  so  they  in  thee ; 
and  thy  most  trifling  actions  will  appear  like  a  cloud  under  a 
serene  sky." 

The  phenomena  of  clairvoyance  show  that  there  is  not  the 
slightest  exaggeration  in  all  this.  The  remembrance  of  our 


SENSITIVES.  379 

slightest  acts  and  thoughts  may  be  suspended  ;  but  it  is  eternally 
reproducible. 

We  have  seen  that,  all  unconsciously,  science,  at  every  step  of 
its  progress,  is  revealing  analogies  with  spiritual  facts.  A  lec 
ture  was  recently  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution  by  Professor 
Tyndall,  in  which  he  demonstrated,  that  a  ray  of  light  was  al 
lowed  to  traverse  a  strip  of  glass  every  time  he  caused  it  to  set 
up  a  musical  sound;  the  glass  being  held  in  a  vice,  and  the 
light  from  an  electric  lamp  polarized  upon  it.  The  same  learned 
professor  delivered  a  lecture  on  "The  Rhythm  of  Flames,"  or 
"  On  Sounding  and  Sensible  Flames,"  when  he  exhibited  a  flame 
some  twenty  inches  in  height,  which  fell  down  to  eight  on  the 
slightest  tap  on  an  anvil.  It  responded  to  the  tinkle  of  a  bunch 
of  keys  or  a  few  pence  shaken  together,  the  creaking  of  boots, 
the  rustling  of  a  silk  dress  or  a  piece  of  paper;  while  certain  in 
tonations  of  the  voice  threw  it  into  violent  commotion. 

Grove  says,  in  his  "Correlation  and  Continuity,"  p.  161, 
"Myriads  of  organized  beings  may  exist  imperceptible  to  our 
vision,  even  if  we  were  amongst  them;  and  we  might  be  equally 
imperceptible  to  them." 

The  universe  is  a  vast  whispering  gallery,  a  boundless  system 
of  correlated  influences;  and  the  soul  of  man  has  the  eternal  free 
dom  of  the  infinite  "  mansions." 

The  faculty  which  some  sensitives  have,  like  Mr.  J.  V.  Mans 
field,  of  learning  the  contents  of  a  letter,  or  the  mood  of  the 
writer,  by  simply  feeling  of  the  paper,  has  been  so  repeatedly 
tested  as  to  be  placed  beyond  a  doubt.  Others,  as  we  have  seen 
in  the  case  of  Home,  by  simply  being  brought  in  contact  with  a 
person,  or  by  touching  a  lock  of  his  hair,  will  have  revealed  to 
them  incidents  in  his  past  life  to  an  extent  wholly  inexplicable. 

Heinrich  Zschokke,  the  celebrated  German  writer,  was  one  of 
these.  He  was  instinctively  a  Spiritualist  from  his  youth  up, 
was  well  acquainted  with  the  phenomena  of  rhabdomancy 
(divination  by  a  rod  or  wand),  which,  he  says,  presented  him 
with  a  new  phase  of  nature,  and  which  was,  moreover,  of  con 
siderable  use  to  him  in  his  mining  operations.  From  personal 


380  PLANCHETTE. 

experience,  he  believed  in  spiritual  impressions  and  presenti 
ments,  especially  as  conveyed  in  dreams.  But  his  most  remark 
able  faculty  was  what  he  describes  as  a  singular  kind  of  pro 
phetic  gift  he  called  his  inward  sight,  but  which  was  always  an 
enigma  to  him.  The  following  is  his  detailed  account  of  it :  — 

"It  is  well  known  that  the  judgment  we  not  seldom  form  at 
the  first  glance  of  persons  hitherto  unknown,  is  more  correct 
than  that  which  is  the  result  of  longer  acquaintance.  The  first 
impression,  that  through  some  instinct  of  the  soul  attracts  or  re- 
pels  us  with  strangers,  is  afterwards  weakened  or  destroyed  by 
custom,  or  by  different  appearances.  We  speak  in  such  cases  of 
sympathies  or  antipathies,  and  perceive  these  effects  frequently 
among  children,  to  whom  experience  in  human  character  is 
wholly  wanting.  Others  are  incredulous  on  this  point,  and  have 
recourse  rather  to  the  art  of  physiognomy.  Now,  for  my  own 
case  :  It  has  happened  to  me  sometimes  on  my  first  meeting 
with  strangers,  as  I  listened  silently  to  their  discourse,  that  their 
former  life,  with  many  trifling  circumstances  therewith  con 
nected,  or  frequently  some  particular  scene  in  that  life,  has 
passed  quite  involuntarily,  and,  as  it  were,  dream-like,  yet  per 
fectly  distinct  before  me.  During  this  time,  I  usually  feel  so  en 
tirely  absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of  the  stranger  life,  that  at 
last  I  no  longer  see  clearly  the  face  of  the  unknown,  wherein  I  un- 
designedly  read,  nor  distinctly  hear  the  voices  of  the  speakers, 
which  before  served  in  some  measure  as  a  commentary  to  the 
text  of  their  features. 

"  For  a  long  time,  I  held  such  visions  as  delusions  of  the  fancy, 
and  the  more  so,  as  they  showed  me  even  the  dress  and  motions 
of  the  actors,  rooms,  furniture,  and  other  accessories.  By  way 
of  jest,  I  once  in  a  familiar  family  circle  at  Kirchberg  related  the 
secret  history  of  a  seamstress  who  had  just  left  the  room  and  the 
house.  I  had  never  seen  her  before  in  my  life :  people  were  as 
tonished  and  laughed,  but  were  not  to  be  persuaded  that  I  did 
not  previously  know  the  relations  of  which  I  spoke;  for  what  I 
had  uttered  was  the  literal  truth.  I,  on  my  part,  was  no  less  as 
tonished  that  my  dream-pictures  were  confirmed  by  the  reality.  I 


EXPERIENCES    OF    ZSCHOKKE.  381 

became  more  attentive  to  the  subject,  and,  when  propriety  ad 
mitted  it,  I  would  relate  to  those  whose  life  thus  passed  before 
me  the  subject  of  my  vision,  that  I  might  thereby  obtain  confir 
mation  or  refutation  of  it.  It  was  invariably  ratified,  not  without 
consternation  on  their  part.  '  What  demon  inspires  you?  Must 
I  again  believe  in  possession?'  exclaimed  the  spirituel  Johann 
von  Riga,  when,  in  the  first  hour  of  our  acquaintance,  I  related  his 
past  life  to  him,  with  the  avowed  object  of  learning  whether  or 
no  I  deceived  myself.  We  speculated  long  on  the  enigma,  but 
even  his  penetration  could  not  solve  it.  I  myself  had  less  con 
fidence  than  any  one  in  this  mental  jugglery.  So  often  as  I  re 
vealed  my  visionary  gifts  to  any  new  person,  I  regularly  expected 
to  hear  the  answer,  '  It  was  not  so.'  I  felt  a  secret  shudder  when 
my  auditors  replied  that  it  was  true,  or  when  their  astonishment 
betrayed  my  accuracy  before  they  spoke.  Instead  of  many,  I 
will  mention  one  example,  which  pre-eminently  astounded  me. 

"  One  fair  day  in  the  city  of  Waldshut,  I  entered  an  inn  (the 
Vine),  in  company  with  two  young  student-foresters;  we  were 
tired  with  rambling  through  the  woods.  We  supped  with  a 
numerous  society  at  the  table  d'hote,  where  the  guests  were 
making  very  merry  with  the  peculiarities  and  eccentricities  of 
the  Swiss,  with  Mesmer's  magnetism,  Lavater's  physiognomy, 
&c.  One  of  my  companions,  whose  national  pride  was  wounded 
by  their  mockery,  begged  me  "to  make  some  reply,  particularly 
to  a  handsome  young  man  who  sat  opposite  us.  and  who  had  al 
lowed  himself  extraordinary  license.  This  man's  former  life  was 
at  that  moment  presented  to  my  mind.  I  turned  to  him  and 
asked  whether  he  would  answer  me  candidly  if  I  related  to  him 
some  of  the  most  secret  passages  of  his  life,  I  knowing  as  little 
of  him  personally  as  he  did  of  me?  That  would  be  going  a  little 
further,  I  thought,  than  Lavater  did  with  his  physiognomy.  He 
promised,  if  I  were  correct  in  my  information,  to  admit  it  frankly. 
I  then  related  what  my  vision  had  shown  me,  and  the  whole  com 
pany  were  made  acquainted  with  the  private  history  of  the  young 
merchant;  his  school  years,  his  youthful  errors,  and,  lastly,  with 
a  fault  committed  in  reference  to  the  strong  box  of  his  principal. 


382  PLANCHETTE. 

I  described  to  him  the  uninhabited  room  with  whitened  walls, 
where,  to  the  right  of  the  brown  door,  on  a  table,  stood  a  black 
money-box,  &c.  A  dead  silence  prevailed  during  the  whole 
narration,  which  I  alone  occasionally  interrupted  by  inquiring 
whether  I  spoke  the  truth.  The  startled  young  man  confirmed 
every  particular,  and  even,  what  I  had  scarcely  expected,  the  last 
mentioned.  Touched  by  his  candor,  I  shook  hands  with  him 
over  the  table,  and  said  no  more.  He  asked  my  name,  which  I 
gave  him,  and  we  remained  together  talking  till  past  midnight. 
He  is  probably  still  living! 

"  I  can  well  explain  to  myself  how  a  person  of  lively  imagina 
tion  may  form,  as  in  a  romance,  a  correct  picture  of  the  actions 
and  passions  of  another  person,  of  a  certain  character,  under  cer 
tain  circumstances.  But  whence  came  those  trifling  accessories 
which  no-wise  concerned  me,  and  in  relation  to  people  for  the 
most  part  indifferent  to  me,  with  whom  I  neither  had,  nor  desired 
to  have,  any  connection?  Or,  was  the  whole  matter  a  constantly 
recurring  accident  ?  Or,  had  my  auditor,  perhaps,  when  I  re 
lated  the  particulars  of  his  former  life,  very  different  views  to  give 
of  the  whole,  although  in  his  first  surprise,  and  misled  by  some 
resemblances,  he  had  mistaken  them  for  the  same?  And  yet,  im 
pelled  by  this  very  doubt,  I  had  several  times  given  myself 
trouble  to  speak  of  the  most  insignificant  things  which  my  wak 
ing  dream  had  revealed  to  me.  I  shall  not  say  another  word  on 
this  singular  gift  of  vision,  of  which  I  cannot  say  it  was  ever  of 
the  slightest  service;  it  manifested  itself  rarely,  quite  independ 
ently  of  my  will,  and  several  times  in  reference  to  persons  whom 
I  cared  little  to  look  through.  Neither  am  I  the  only  person  in 
possession  of  this  power.  On  an  excursion  I  once  made  with 
two  of  my  sons,  I  met  with  an  old  Tyrolese,  who  carried  oranges 
and  lemons  about  the  country,  in  a  house  of  public  entertain 
ment,  in  Lower  Hanenstein,  one  of  the  passes  of  the  Jura.  He 
fixed  his  eyes  on  me  for  some  time,  then  mingled  in  the  conver 
sation,  and  said  that  he  knew  me,  although  he  knew  me  not,  and 
went  to  relate  what  I  had  done  and  striven  to  do  in  former  time, 
to  the  consternation  of  the  country  people  present,  and  the  great 


EXPERIENCES    OF    DESCHAMPS.  383 

admiration  of  my  children,  who  were  diverted  to  find  another 
person  gifted  like  their  father.  How  the  old  lemon  merchant 
came  by  his  knowledge,  he  could  not  explain,  neither  to  me  nor 
to  himself;  he  seemed,  nevertheless,  to  value  himself  somewhat 
upon  his  mysterious  wisdom." 

Emile  Deschamps  communicates  to  "Le  Monde  Musical,"  of 
Brussels  (1868),  the  following  account  of  his  own  experience  in 
psychometry  :  "If  a  man  believed  only  what  he  could  compre 
hend,  he  would  believe  neither  in  God,  in  himself,  in  the  stars 
which  roll  above  his  head,  nor  in  the  herbage  which  is  crushed 
beneath  his  feet.  .  .  . 

"In  the  month  of  February,  1846,  I  travelled  in  France.  I  ar 
rived  in  a  rich  and  great  city;  and  I  took  a  walk  in  front  of  the 
beautiful  shops  which  abound  in  it.  The  rain  began  to  fall ;  I 
entered  an  elegant  gallery.  All  at  once  I  stood  motionless; 
I  could  not  withdraw  my  eyes  from  the  figure  of  a  lovely  young 
woman,  who  was  all  alone  behind  an  array  of  articles  of  orna 
ment  for  sale.  This  young  woman  was  very  handsome ;  but  it 
was  not  at  all  her  beauty  which  enchained  me.  I  know  not 
what  mysterious  interest,  what  inexplicable  bond,  held  and  mas 
tered  my  whole  being.  It  was  a  sympathy  subtle  and  profound, 
free  from  any  sensual  alloy,  but  of  irresistible  force,  as  the  un 
known  is  in  all  things.  I  was  pushed  forward  into  the  shop  by 
a  supernatural  power.  I  purchased  several  little  things,  and,  as  I 
paid  for  them,  said,  'Thank  you,  Mademoiselle  Sara.'  The 
young  girl  looked  at  me  with  an  air  of  surprise.  'It  astonishes 
you,'  I  continued,  'that  a  stranger  knows  your  name,  and  one  of 
your  baptismal  names;  but,  if  you  will  think  for  a  moment  of  all 
your  names,  I  will  repeat  them  all  to  you.  Do  you  think  of 
them?'  'Yes,  monsieur,'  she  replied,  half-smiling  and  half- 
trembling.  '  Very  well,'  I  added,  looking  fixedly  in  her  face, 

'You  are  called  Sara  Adele  Benjamine  N .'  'It  is  true,' 

she  replied;  and  after  some  minutes  of  surprise  she  began  all  at 
once  to  laugh;  and  I  saw  that  she  thought  that  I  had  obtained 
this  information  in  the  neighborhood,  in  order  to  amuse  myself 
with  it.  But  I  knew  very  well  that  I  had  not  till  this  moment 


384  PLANCHETTE. 

known  a  word  of  it,  and  I  was  terrified  at  my  own  instantaneous 
divination. 

"The  next  and  the  next  day  I  hastened  to  the  handsome 
shop;  my  divination  was  renewed  at  every  instant.  I  begged  of 
Sara  to  think  of  something,  without  letting  me  know  what  it 
was;  and,  immediately,  I  read  on  her  countenance  her  thought 
not  yet  expressed.  I  requested  her  to  write  with  a  pencil  some 
words,  which  she  should  keep  carefully  concealed  from  me;  and, 
after  having  looked  at  her  for  a  minute,  I,  on  my  part,  wrote 
down  the  same  words  in  the  same  order.  I  had  her  thoughts  as 
in  an  open  book;  but  she  could  not  in  the  slightest  degree  read 
mine,  such  was  my  superiority ;  but  at  the  same  time  she  im 
posed  on  me  her  ideas  and  her  emotions.  Let  her  think  seriously 
on  any  subject,  or  let  her  repeat  in  her  own  mind  the  words  of 
any  writing,  and  instantly  I  was  aware  of  the  whole.  The 
mystery  lay  betwixt  her  brain  and  mine,  not  betwixt  my 
faculties  of  intuition  and  things  material.  Whatever  it  might 
be,  there  existed  a  rapport  between  us  as  intimate  as  it  was 
pure. 

"  One  night  I  heard  in  my  ear  a  loud  voice  crying  to  me, 
'Sara  is  very  ill,  very  ill !'  I  hastened  to  her:  a  medical  man 
was  watching  over  her  and  expecting  a  crisis.  That  evening 
Sara  had  entered  her  lodgings  in  a  burning  fever;  she  continued 
in  delirium  all  night.  The  doctor  took  me  aside,  and  told  me 
that  he  feared  the  worst  result.  From  that  apartment  I  saw 
the  countenance  of  Sara  clearly,  and,  my  intuition  rising  above 
my  distress,  I  said  in  a  low  voice,  'Doctor,  do  you  know  with 
what  images  her  fevered  sleep  is  occupied?  She  believes  that 
she  is  at  this  moment  at  the  grand  opera  at  Paris,  where  she 
indeed  has  never  been,  and  a  danseuse  gathers,  amongst  other 
buds,  some  hemlock,  and,  throwing  it  to  her,  cries,  "  That  is  for 
you" ' 

"  The  physician  thought  I  was  delirious  too  ;  but  some  minutes 
afterwards  the  patient  awoke  heavily,  and  her  first  words  were, 
'Oh!  how  beautiful  is  the  opera!  but  why  did  that  handsome 
girl  throw  to  me  that  hemlock?'  The  doctor  was  stupefied  with 


GOETHE   AND    LAVATER.  385 

astonishment.      A   medicine   containing    hemlock  was   admin 
istered,  and  in  some  days  Sara  was  well." 

According  to  Goethe,  this  same  faculty  of  psychometry  or  in 
ward  sight  was  possessed  by  Lavater,  the  celebrated  physiogno 
mist  (1741-1801).  Goethe  tells  us  that  Lavater's  insight  into 
the  characters  of  individuals  "  surpassed  all  conception;"  and  he 
speaks  of  it  as  one  of  those  gifts  which  "  seem  to  have  something 
of  magic  in  it."  However  this  may  be,  we  have  his  authority 
for  asserting  that  Lavater  believed  in  special  providences,  espe 
cially  in  answer  to  prayer,  and  that  he  had  "  a  perfect  con 
viction  that  miracles  can  be  wrought  to-day  as  well  as  hereto 
fore."  He  tells  us,  too,  that  "  his  [Lavater's]  system  of 
physiognomy  rests  on  the  conviction  that  the  sensible  corre 
sponds  throughout  with  the  spiritual,  and  is  not  only  an  evidence 
of  it,  but,  indeed,  its  representative;"  and,  like  Swedenborg 
and  Spiritualists  in  general,  he  held  that  the  future  life  was 
a  continuation  of  the  present,  though  under  different  condi 
tions. 

"  Whatever  may  be  conjectured  or  inferred,"  says  Lavater,  "  in 
regard  to  the  state  of  the  soul  after  death,  may  be  stated  in  the 
following  thesis  or  axiom  :  «  MAN  SHALL  REAP  AS  HE  HAS  SOWN.' 
It  is  impossible  to  discover  a  more  lucid  or  simple  principle,  or 
one  capable  of  a  wider  application. 

"  There  exists  a  general,  natural  law  which  governs  every 
world,  and  every  department  of  the  physical,  moral,  intelligent, 
visible,  and  invisible  worlds.  It  is  this  :  '  Whatever  is  suscepti 
ble  of  affinity,  attracts ;  the  same  species  are  mutually  drawn 
to  each  other,  unless  thwarted  by  obstacles  fortuitously  inter 
posed.' 

"  Every  soul  freed  from  matter  not  only  knows  itself;  not  only 
do  the  errors,  distractions,  and  blindness  which  opposed  it  in  the 
contemplation  of  itself,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  its  powers, 
weakness,  and  shortcomings,  cease,  but  it  feels  itself  attracted 
toward  every  thing  which  has  affinity  for  it,  by  an  interior, 
irresistible  force;  while  it  feels  repulsion  for  whatever  is  alien 
to  it. 

25 


386  PLANCHETTE. 

"Its  moral  or  religious  character  gives  it  a  determinate  direc 
tion.  Whoso  is  good  goes  toward  the  good.  Its  needs,  its  at 
tractions  for  the  good,  give  it  this  direction.  The  impure  soul  is 
repelled  among  the  impure.  Just  as  a  heavy  weight,  tossed  into 
open  space,  would  fall  swiftly  into  the  abyss,  so  impure,  im 
moral,  and  irreligious  souls  will  inevitably  go  to  join  their 
like." 

Lavater,  in  this,  merely  sums  up  what  is  highest  and  most 
uniform  in  the  teachings  of  Spiritualism. 

Among  American  poets  of  promise  was  Forceythe  Willson. 
Born  in  Indiana  in  1837,  he  died  in  1867.  He,  too,  was  a  psycho- 
metrist.  He  would  take  a  letter,  and,  pressing  it  to  his  forehead, 
announce  accurately  the  character  and  personal  appearance  of 
the  writer.  He,  too,  like  Oberlin,  professed  to  have  interviews 
with  his  departed  wife.  There  is  a  remarkable  poem  from  his 
pen,  entitled  "  The  Voice,"  which  seems  to  have  reference  to  the 
fact.  We  quote  the  following  passages  :  — 

"  My  soul  to  ecstasy  was  stirred ; 
It  was  a  Voice  that  I  had  heard 
A  thousand  blissful  times  before, 
But  deemed  that  I  should  hear  no  more 
'Till  I  should  have  a  spirit's  ear 
And  breathe  another  atmosphere.  .  .  . 

..  "  '  Where  art  thou,  blessed  spirit,  where, 

Whose  voice  is  dew  upon  the  air  ? ' 
I  looked  around  me  and  above, 
And  cried  aloud,  '  Where  art  theu,  Love  ? 
Oh  let  me  see  thy  living  eye 
And  clasp  thy  living  hand,  or  die  '•  ' 
Again  upon  the  atmosphere 
The  self-same  words  fell,  '  7  am  here  I ' 

"  '  Here  ?    Thou  art  here,  Love  ? '  — '  /  am  here  ! ' 
The  echo  died  upon  my  ear  ! 
I  looked  around  me  everywhere, 
But  ah  !  there  was  no  mortal  there  ! 
The  moonlight  was  upon  the  mart, 
And  awe  and  wonder  in  my  heart. 


THE    SOUL    OF    THINGS.  387 

I  saw  no  form  !  —  I  only  felt 
Heaven's  peace  upon  me  as  I  knelt, 
And  knew  a  Soul  Beatified 
Was  at  that  moment  at  my  side." 

Between  Willson  and  a  neighbor  a  coolness  had  arisen.  But 
as  Willson  was  about  to  leave  town,  the  neighbor  met  him  at 
the  cars,  and,  holding  out  his  hand,  said,  "  We  must  not  part 
with  a  cloud  between  us."  Willson  grasped  the  proffered  hand 
with  emotion,  and  replied,  "  The  good  man  •within  me  told  me  to 
say  to  you  just  what  you  have  said  to  me ;  but  the  devil  would 
have  conquered,  I  fear,  if  you  had  not  spoken.  We  shall  never 
meet  again ;  for  within  six  months  I  shall  have  joined  my  wife 
in  the  land  of  the  hereafter." 

The  presentiment  was  accurate.  Within  four  months  he 
died. 

William  Denton,  the  accomplished  professor  of  geology,  says, 
"There  are  forces  coming  out  from  all  forms  of  matter  :  we  can 
not  see  them  with  the  material  eye,  hear  them  with  the  material 
ear,  know  them  by  the  material  senses ;  but  the  soul  has  facul 
ties  by  which  to  grasp  them." 

Reichenbach  discovered  that  from  every  magnet,  in  proportion 
to  its  length,  flowed  forth  luminous  rays,  and  that  some  indi 
viduals  are  so  susceptible  as  to  be  able  to  see  these,  while  men 
generally  have  not  the  slightest  idea  of  their  existence.  Some 
of  the  persons  he  experimented  upon,  were  enabled  to  perceive 
the  presence  of  a  magnet,  even  when  twenty  to  fifty  feet  distant. 
The  luminous  aura  emitted  from  shells,  minerals,  magnets,  the 
human  body,  and  each  of  its  organs,  and,  indeed,  from  all 
objects  around  us,  serves,  in  some  subtle  way,  to  retain  and 
convey  to  the  seer  an  impression  of  their  past  history  and  sur 
roundings.  Mr.  Denton's  experiments  have  demonstrated  that 
there  are  certain  sensitives  who  can  receive  influences  from  the 
fossil  remains  of  the  far-off  ages. 

In  that  able  contribution  to  the  literature  of  Spiritualism, 
"The  Soul  of  Things,"  he  presents  facts  showing  that  the  soul 
of  man  has  power  to  read,  even  in  the  inorganic  substances  of 


388  PLANCHETTE. 

nature,  their  eternal  record.  Thus,  in  a  spiritual  sense,  what 
ever  has  been,  is  now.  No  mountain  ever  stood  that  stands  not 
now;  no  human  being  ever  shed  an  influence,  who  sheds  it  not 
now.  Only  the  spiritual  is  the  abiding. 

"The  air,"  says  Professor  Babbage,  "is  one  vast  library,  on 
whose  pages  are  for  ever  written  all  that  man  has  ever  said,  or 
woman  whispered." 

The  spirit,  when  it  passes  on,  takes  with  it  every  thing  neces 
sary  for  the  continuance  of  its  individuality.  Deprive  a  man  at 
once  of  his  good  or  his  bad  tendencies,  and  you  rob  him  of  his 
identity :  he  becomes  somebody  else  at  once.  God  is  very 
patient,  since  he  has  an  eternity  in  which  to  deal  with  us.  He 
can  put  up  with  very  slow  gradations  of  progress ;  even  with 
retrogressions.  The  loss  will  be  our  own ;  and  the  effort  must 
be  our  own  if  we  would  make  up  for  the  loss. 

Psychometry  tells  us,  that  the  soul  is  what  Aristotle  calls  an 
entelechy,  or  actuality,  unlimked  by  this  enclosure  of  flesh. 
"We  ought  not," says  Dr.  Bertrand,  "to  consider  our  body  as 
containing  our  soul  in  the  manner  in  which  a  thing  material 
contains  another;  but  only  as  limiting  the  extent  of  the  matter 
in  which  it  is  given  it  to  act  and  feel." 

What  an  incentive  to  a  scrupulous  morality*  would  the  facts 
of  psychometry  be,  if  rightly  pondered  !  They  show  that  every 
act  and  thought  of  our  existence  are  for  ever  reproducible  for 
ourselves  and  all  spiritual  intelligences  to  scan  at  pleasure;  that 
the  warp  and  woof  of  our  spiritual  substance  include  all  that  we 
have  desired,  done,  and  thought;  that  God's  judgments  are 

*  "  If  nothing  could  be  Evil,  nothing  would  be  Good, 

But  all  things  whatsoever  would  be  indifferent  and  unmoral. 

The  possibility  of  Vice  is  the  condition  of  Virtue. 

So  likewise  is  Evil  the  revelation  of  Good, 

And  Human  weakness  of  Divine  strength. 

If  we  had  no  lower  impulses,  no  meaner  passions, 

No  drawings  toward  the  worse,  no  susceptibility  of  temptation, 

Never  should  we  distinguish  God's  voice  in  Conscience, 

Nor  know  that  God  is  moral,  nor  frame  moral  judgments." 

Theism,  by  frauds  IV,  Newman 


THE    SOUL'S    DAY    OF  JUDGMENT.  389 

recorded  against  us  in  the  very  structure  of  our  being,  as  fast 
as  our  sins  are  committed. 

There  is  no  waiting  for  rewards  and  punishments.  Poor  con 
ceptions  of  a  heavenly  reward  must  he  have  who  regards  it  as 
something  outside  of  the  state  of  his  own  soul.  Foretastes  of 
heaven  may  be  had  even  here  by  every  righteous,  loving,  and 
aspiring  spirit.  All  the  good  we  do,  all  the  pure  happiness 
we  enjoy,  are  happiness  and  good  for  ever.  All  our  acquisi 
tions  in  knowledge,  in  art,  in  virtue,  are  made  for  ever,  and 
shall  be  the  vantage-ground  of  ever  new  attainments. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  hell  of  the  evil-doer  yawns  for  him 
even  now;  and,  in  one  sense,  it  is  eternal;  for,  as  we  have  seen, 
though  the  sinner  may  forsake  his  sin  (and  in  every  soul  there 
is  a  redeeming  principle  antagonistic  to  everlasting  wrong), 
the  sin  will  not  forsake  him.  Its  record,  which  is  itself,  is  for 
ever  plain  to  the  psychometrist  of  the  spirit-world,  and  the  sin 
ner's  own  memory  will  not  let  it  go. 

The  day  of  judgment,  when  is  it,  if  not  now?  Shall  He  to 
whom  the  universe  is  a  very  small  thing,  need  the  forms  of  our 
poor  human  assizes  for  his  purposes  in  the  creation  of  man? 
The  pressure  of  his  laws  is  upon  us  every  moment,  spiritually 
as  well  as  physically.  We  can  no  more  violate  his  law  of  right, 
without  a  simultaneous  penalty,  than  we  can  thrust  our  finger 
in  the  fire  without  injury.  The  spiritual,  like  the  physical, 
offence,  carries  its  punishment.  We  have  but  imperfect  concep 
tions  of  the  powers  of  our  own  souls.  Clairvoyance,  and  the 
facts  of  Spiritualism,  give  us,  here  and  there,  a  glimpse  of 
them. 

There  will  be  no  more  awful  tribunal  than  that  of  the  awakened 
conscience  ;  no  more  dreadful  sentence  than  that  which  the 
roused  and  clear-seeing  mind  of  man  shall  some  day,  in  some 
stage  of  being,  near  or  remote,  pronounce,  according  to  the 
degree  of  his  development  and  his  intelligence,  against  himself. 

God's  pardon!  Can  God  arbitrarily  or  vicariously  pardon? 
Yes  :  in  all  the  ways  by  which  we  may  truly  seek  it,  God's  par 
don  may  be  had,  arbitrarily  or  freely,  directly  or  vicariously; 


390  PLANCHETTE. 

through  our  own  merits,  or  through  another's,  or  through  no 
merits  at  all ;  through  reverence  for  a  Saviour  or  saint  of  old 
time,  or  through  heart-crushing  affection  for  a  poor  little  dying 
infant  of  to-day.  Though  our  sins  are  as  scarlet,  his  pardon 
goes  with  the  asking. 

But  the  soul's  own  pardon,  —  what  of  that?  God,  in  his 
infinite  mercy,  may  let  the  waters  of  Lethe  serve  us  for  a  time ; 
but,  by  the  inexorable  laws  of  our  spiritual  constitution,  the 
soul's  day  of  judgment  must  come,  sooner  or  later,  and  the  later 
the  more  terrible.  The  fearfulest  judgment-seat  will  be  that 
which  in  some  moment  of  illumination,  of  expansion  of  our 
natural  powers,  we  shall  find  established  within  the  domain 
of  our  own  intellectual  being.  Judge,  jury,  witnesses,  will  be 
there,  — 

"  TJtere  is  no  shuffling  ;  there  the  action  lies 
In  his  true  nature  ;  and  we  ourselves  compelled, 
Even  to  the  teeth  and  forehead  of  our  faults, 
To  give  in  evidence." 

In  that  day  of  the  soul,  we  can  no  more  escape  the  inefface 
able  brand  which  conscience  will  put  upon  us,  than  we  can  run 
from  our  own  shadow  in  the  sunlight. 

Such  are  the  teachings  of  psychometry. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

COGNATE  FACTS  AND   PHENOMENA. 

All  life  is  Thy  life,  O  Infinite  One,  and  only  the  religious  eye  penetrates  to  the 
realm  of  True  Beauty."  —  J.  G.  Fichte. 

NO  one  who  has  carefully  examined  the  facts  of  modern 
Spiritualism,  can  fail  of  being  struck  by  the  analogy  they 
bear  to  many  of  the  miraculous  incidents  recorded  in  the  Bible. 
Nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  the  Bible  distinctly 
recognizes  a  class  of  phenomena,  rejected  by  modern  skepticism 
as  contrary  to  the  order  of  nature,  but  the  possibility  of  which 
is  clearly  proved  in  the  attestations  of  thousands  of  intelligent 
contemporaries  to  similar  occurrences. 

Instances  of  the  exercise  of  the  prophetic  faculty,  by  som 
nambulists  and  others,  have  been  not  unfrequent  during  the 
present  century.  The  prophet  Hosea  represents  God  as  saying, 
"  I  have  spoken  by  the  prophets,  I  have  multiplied  visions." 

What  clearer  recognition  of  some  of  the  higher  experiences 
of  somnambulism  and  trance  can  we  have  than  the  following : 
"God  speaketh  once,  yea,  twice,  yet  man  perceiveth  not;  in  a 
dream,  in  a  vision  of  the  night,  when  deep  sleep  falleth  upon 
men,  in  slumberings  upon  the  bed,  and  sealeth  their  instruction, 
that  he  may  withdraw  man  from  his  purpose,  and  hide  pride 
from  man." 

Among  the  earliest  spiritual  manifestations  of  the  Old  Testa 
ment  are  the  spirit-voices.  The  Lord  spake  face  to  face  with 
Adam  and  Eve  (Gen.  ii.  16,  and  again,  Gen.  iii.  9-22)  ;  again,  he 
spake  with  Cain  (Gen.  iv.  6),  and  also  spake  and  walked  with 
Enoch. 

What  a  life  of  spiritual  experiences  was  that  of  Abraham ! 
In  Gen.  xviii.  is  related  the  memorable  visit  of  the  three  angels 
to  him,  and  afterwards  their  visit  to  Lot,  —  "  Be  not  forgetful  to 


392  PLANCHETTE. 

entertain  strangers,  for  thereby  some  have  entertained  angels 
unawares."  Angels  of  the  Lord  met  Jacob  on  his  return  from 
Padanaram  (Gen.  xxxii.  i.)  ;  also  at  Peniel  an  angel  met  and 
wrestled  with  Jacob  :  refusing  to  give  his  name,  he  wrestled  all 
the  night,  until  he  said,  "Let  me  go,  for  the  day  breaketh." 
Moses  was  evidently  in  constant  communication  with  the  spirit- 
world. 

An  angel  appeared  to  Hager  (Gen.  xvi.)  ;  and  two  to  Lot 
(Gen.  xix.).  One  called  to  Hagar  (Gen.  xxxi.)  ;  and  to  Abra 
ham  (Gen.  xxii.)  ;  one  spake  to  Jacob  in  a  dream  (Gen.  xxxi.)  ; 
one  appeared  to  Moses  (Exod.  iii.)  ;  one  went  before  the  camp 
of  Israel  (Exod.  xiv.)  ;  one  spake  to  all  the  children  of  Israel 
(Judges  ii.)  ;  one  spake  to  Gideon  (Judges  vi.)  ;  and  to  the  wife 
of  Manoah  (Judges  xiii.)  ;  one  appeared  to  Elijah  (i  Kings  xix.)  ; 
one  stood  by  the  threshing-floor  of  Oman  (i  Chron.  xxi.)  ;  one 
talked  with  Zachariah  (Zach.  i.) ;  one  appeared  to  the  two 
Marys  at  the  sepulchre  (Matt,  xxviii.)  ;  one  foretold  the  birth 
of  John  the  Baptist  (Luke  i.)  ;  one  appeared  to  the  Virgin  Mary 
(ibid.^)  ;  to  the  shepherds  (Luke  ii.)  ;  one  opened  the  door  of 
Peter's  prison  (Acts  v.)  ;  two  were  seen  by  Jesus,  Peter,  James, 
and  John  (Luke  ix.).  It  will  not  do  for  scriptural  objectors  to  say 
these  angels  were  a  distinct  order  of  beings  from  man ;  for  those 
seen  by  the  apostles  were  Moses  and  Elias,  and  that  seen  by 
John  (Rev.  xxii.),  though  called  by  him  an  angel,  avowed  him 
self  to  be  his  fellow-servant,  and  "one  of  his  brethren,  the 
prophets." 

The  instances  of  miraculous  cures  are  numerous.  Read  Lev. 
xv.  and  xvi.,  Num.  v.,  i  Kings  xiii.,  i  Kings  xvii.,  2  Kings  ii.  4; 
iv.  5  ;  xix.  20;  Josh,  x.,  &c.  Hundreds  of  such  cases  could  be  cited 
from  the  Old  Testament,  hundreds  from  the  New  Testament. 
Christ  said  this  power  would  continue,  and  that  these  signs 
should  always  follow  those  that  believe:  "In  my  name  shall 
they  cast  out  devils;  they  shall  speak  with  new  tongues;  they 
shall  take  up  serpents ;  and  if  they  drink  any  deadly  thing, 
it  shall  not  hurt  them ;  they  shall  lay  hands  on  the  sick,  and 
they  shall  recover"  (Mark  xvi.  17,  18). 


SPIRITUALISM    IN    THE    BIBLE. 


393 


The  reported  cures  of  Dr.  Newton,  the  Zouave  Jacob,  and 
many  others  at  the  present  day,  are  certainly  not  unworthy  of 
investigation,  if  we  are  to  believe  passages  like  the  above. 

Modern  skepticism  accounts  those  persons  fatuous  who  say, 
"We  have  seen  writing  that  could  never  have  been  done  by 
mortal  hand;"  or  who  say,  "Our  hands  were  moved  to  write 
involuntarily."  And  yet  spirit-writing  appeared  on  Belshazzar's 
palace-wall;  and  Ezekiel  (ii.  9)  says,  "And  when  I  looked,  be 
hold  a  hand  was  sent  unto  me ;  and  lo,  a  roll  of  a  book  was 
therein,  and  he  spread  it  before  me,  and  it  was  written  within 
and  without." 

There  we  have  two  distinct  instances  of  spiritual  manifesta 
tion,  very  similar  to  those  coming  under  our  own  notice  in  the 
present  day.  Spirit-hands  and  spirit-writing  were  seen,  without 
the  seers  being  either  mad,  dreaming,  or  even  entranced. 

"All  this,"  said  David,  "the  Lord  made  me  understand  in 
writing,  by  his  hand  upon  me,  even  all  the  marks  of  this  pat 
tern  "  (i  Chron.  xxvii.  19).  See,  also,  2  Chron.  xxi.  12,  where 
it  is  stated  that  "  There  came  a  writing  to  Jehoram  from  Elijah 
the  prophet;  "  and  this  must  have  been  some  years  after  Elijah's 
death;  though  some  of  the  commentators  quietly  assume,  in  a 
marginal  note,  that  the  said  writing  was  written  before  the 
prophet's  death ! 

We  have  accounts  of  visions  and  trances,  such  as  those  of 
Balaam,  the  son  of  Beor,  who  heard  the  words  of  God,  saw  the 
vision  of  the  Almighty;  falling  into  a  trance,  having  his  eyes 
open,  —  a  state  accurately  described,  and  which  is  familiar  to 
those  acquainted  with  certain  forms  of  somnambulism;  of 
Isaiah,  the  son  of  Amos,  which  he  saw  concerning  Judah  and 
Jerusalem;  of  Ezekiel,  the  priest,  by  the  river  Chebar,  when 
the  heavens  were  opened,  and  he  saw  visions  of  God  ;  of  Daniel, 
in  the  palace  of  Shushan,  and  by  the  great  river  Hiddekel;  of 
Peter,  at  Joppa,  who,  when  he  had  gone  upon  the  house-top 
to  pray,  fell  into  a  trance,  and  saw  heaven  opened ;  of  Paul, 
who  was  in  a  trance  while  praying  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem; 
of  John,  the  divine,  in  the  isle  that  is  called  Patmos,  and  who 


394  PLANCHETTE. 

was  commanded  by  a  voice  from  the  heavens,  "  What  thou  seest 
write  in  a  book;  "  and  who,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  Apocalypse, 
tells  us,  "And  I  John  saw  and  heard  these  things." 

That  spirits  can  move  material  objects,  or  manifest  themselves 
materially  to  the  touch  of  mortals,  is  clearly  implied  in  such 
narratives  as  those  of  the  angel  who  delivered  Peter  out  of 
prison ;  of  the  angel  who  rolled  away  the  stone  from  the  door 
of  the  sepulchre ;  of  the  apostle  Philip  whom  "  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  caught  away"  and  bore  from  Gaza  to  Azotus ;  and  of  Eze- 
kiel's  experiences,  almost  literally  like  those  of  some  of  our  con 
temporaries,  as  mentioned  in  this  volume  :  "  So  the  Spirit  lifted 
me  up,  and  took  me  away.  .  .  .  And  he  put  forth  the  form  of  an 
hand,  and  took  me  by  a  lock  of  mine  head,  and  the  Spirit  lifted 
me  up  between  the  earth  and  the  heaven." 

Until  within  the  last  few  years,  who  was  more  fit  for  a  lunatic 
asylum  than  the  man  who  would  believe  that  a  spirit  could  lift  a 
table,  "thus  violating  the  law  of  gravitation"?  Yet  axes  of 
iron  were  made  to  swim,  and  men  were  carried  through  the  air, 
so  often,  indeed,  that  Obadiah  was  afraid  lest  the  Spirit  should 
carry  away  Elijah,  after  he  had  announced  his  presence  to  the 
king  (i  Kings  xviii.). 

Of  spiritual  apparitions,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  refer  to  that 
of  Samuel  the  prophet,  who  spoke  to  Saul,  and  foretold  the 
impending  fate  of  the  king  and  of  his  sons. 

Seership,  in  the  earlier  periods  of  Hebrew  history,  was  a  dis 
tinctive  and  honorable  office.  Thus  we  have  Iddo,  the  seer; 
Gad,  the  king's  seer;  Jeduthun,  the  king's  seer;  and  many  more, 
whose  sayings  were  written  down  and  placed  in  the  Jewish 
archives.  We  read  of  the  time  of  Samuel,  "  He  that  is  now 
called  a  prophet,  was  before-time  called  a  seer;  "  and  that,  "The 
word  of  the  Lord  was  precious  in  those  days,  there  was  no 
open  vision;"  or,  as  De  Witte  translates  it,  "  The  word  of  the 
Lord  was  rare,  in  those  days  visions  were  not  frequent. 

Besides  these  instances,  so  circumstantially  related,  and  others 
of  a  like  kind  with  which  the  Scriptures  abound,  exemplifying 
various  modes  of  spirit  influx  and  operation,  there  is  the  long 


THE    EARLY    CHRISTIAN    CHURCH.  395 

series  of  miracles,  prophecies,  and  revelations,  running  through 
and  indissolubly  blended  with  the  sacred  history;  and  the  varied 
"spiritual  gifts"  concerning  which  St.  Paul,  writing  to  the 
Church  of  Corinth,  says,  "I  would  not  have  you  ignorant." 

Nor  does  the  Church,  in  succeeding  times,  appear  to  have  been 
ignorant. 

Augustine  asserts  that  miracles  were  so  frequent  and  extraor 
dinary  in  his  time  (the  fourth  century),  that  accounts  of  them 
were  read  in  the  churches.  Some  are  said  to  have  been  done 
before  many  witnesses,  and  some  in  his  own  presence. 

Evodius,  a  bishop  in  Africa,  and  a  friend  of  Augustine,  cor 
responded  with  the  latter  concerning  spirit-manifestations.  Of 
the  reality  of  these,  Evodius  was  well  persuaded  from  his  own 
experience.  He  says,  "  I  remember  well  that  Profuturus,  Priva- 
tus,  and  Servitius,  whom  I  had  known  in  the  monastery  here, 
appeared  to  me,  and  talked  to  me,  after  their  decease;  and  what 
they  told  me,  happened.  Was  it  their  souls  which  appeared  to 
me.  or  ivas  it  some  other  spirits  'who  assumed  their  forms  ?"  He 
also  inquires,  u  If  the  soul  on  quitting  its  (mortal)  body  does 
not  retain  a  certain  subtile  body  with  which  it  appears,  and  by 
means  of  which  it  is  transported  from  one  spot  to  another?" 
Augustine,  in  reply,  acknowledges  that  there  is  a  great  distinc 
tion  to  be  made  between  true  and  false  visions,  and  that  he  could 
wish  that  he  had  some  sure  means  of  distinguishing  them. 

It  is  a  common  notion  among  Protestants,  that  all  alleged 
supernatural  occurrences  in  the  Catholic  Church  are  either  the 
delusions  of  ignorant  enthusiasts,  or  the  inventions  of  priest 
craft.  There  can  be  no  greater  mistake.  Whether  the  miracles 
are  genuine  or  not,  the  Catholic  Church  admits  them  only  after 
a  most  thorough  investigation.  "  I  should  not  be  a  good  Catho 
lic,"  said  Cardinal  Wiseman,  "  if  I  did  not  believe  in  spiritual 
manifestations." 

The  working  of  miracles  is  a  condition  absolutely  necessary 
in  the  canonization  of  saints ;  and  it  is  only  after  a  most  careful 
scrutiny  of  facts  that  the  Church  allows  canonization. 

"In  the  scholastic  ages,"  says  Fleming,  "the  belief  in  return 


396  PLANCHETTE. 

from  the  dead,  in  apparitions  and  spirits,  was  universal."  Mr. 
Morison,  in  his  "Life  of  St.  Bernard,"  observes,  "Miracles, 
ghostly  apparitions,  divine  and  demoniac  interference  with 
sublunary  affairs,  were  matters  which  a  man  of  the  twelfth 
century  would  less  doubt  of  than  of  his  own  existence." 

St.  Theresa,  of  whose  experiences  we  have  already  made 
mention,  writes  in  her  account  of  her  life.  "  Sometimes  my 
whole  body  was  carried  'with  my  soul,  so  as  to  be  raised  from  the 
ground ;  but  this  was  seldom.  When  I  wished  to  resist  these 
raptures,  there  seemed  to  be  somewhat  of  such  mighty  force 
under  my  feet,  which  raised  me  up,  that  I  knew  not  what  to 
compare  it  to.  All  my  resistance  availed  little." 

A  modern  Spiritualist  believes  all  this  without  difficulty. 

Ernest  Renan,  in  his  "Life  of  Christ,"  makes  light  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  Bible,  as  well  as  of  Spiritualism.  He  calls 
for  "  a  miracle  at  Paris,  for  instance,  before  experienced  sa- 
vans  /"  one  which  would  put  an  end  to  all  doubt.  Elsewhere, 
too,  he  explains  more  exactly  what  would  suit  him  as  to  a  mira 
cle;  that  it  should  be  wrought  under  conditions  as  to  time  and 
place,  in  a  hall,  and  before  a  commission  of  physiologists, 
chemists,  physicians,  and  critics;  and  that,  when  it  had  been 
done  once,  it  should,  on  request,  be  repeated. 

Well  does  William  Mountford,  in  his  "  Anti-Supernaturalism 
of  the  Age,"  reply  to  expectations  like  these  :  "Are  earthquakes, 
as  reports,  accounted  incredible,  as  not  occurring  at  a  time  and  a 
place  known  beforehand,  and  submissive  to  the  directions  of 
men  with  clocks  and  spirit-levels,  and  with  magnetic  and  other 
machines  all  ready  for  use?  And,  indeed,  a  miracle  coming  to 
order  would  scarcely  be  a  miracle.  For,  coming  to  order  pa 
tiently,  punctually,  and  as  a  scientific  certainty,  it  would,  by  that 
very  fact,  have  parted  probably  with  something  essential  to  its 
nature  as  commonly  understood." 

The  belief  in  guardian  angels  was  common  in  the  earliest  his 
toric  times.  According  to  Plato,  a  peculiar  tutelary  demon  is 
allotted  to  every  man,  —  an  unseen,  yet  ever-present  witness  of 
his  thoughts  aitd  conduct.  Both  Greeks  and  Romans  had  their 


PLANCH ETTE    IN    CHINA.  397 

genii.  Plutarch  says,  "One  Supreme  Providence  governs  the 
world;  and  genii  participate  with  him  in  its  administration." 
That  each  individual  has  his  guardian  angel,  has  always  been  a 
favorite  tenet  of  the  Catholic  Church  ;  and  its  prayer  for  children 
recognizes  the  belief. 

Instances  in  which  persons  have  spoken  in  a  language  which 
was  unknown  to  them  in  their  normal  state,  are  not  infre 
quent  in  modern  Spiritualism. 

In  Edward  Irving's  church,  in  England  (1831),  the  utterances 
were  sometimes  in  foreign  languages  as  well  as  in  "the  un 
known  tongue." 

Colquohon,  in  his  "  Isis  Revelata,"  remarks,  "Many  authors 
have  noticed  this  phenomenon  of  speaking  a  language  unknown 
to  the  individual  in  his  ordinary  state ;  and  it  will  very  fre 
quently  be  found  coupled  with  the  prophetic  faculty,  as  arising 
out  of  the  same  or  similar  conditions." 

Not  only  in  Judea,  but  throughout  the  Orient,  has  the  belief  in 
spirit-communion  prevailed  from  the  earliest  times.  Mahomet 
was  what  would  be  called  in  our  days  a  medium.  He  was  sub 
ject  to  trances  and  ecstasies.  He  was  a  thorough  Spiritualist. 
When  he  followed  the  mortal  remains  of  his  son  Ibrahim  to 
the  grave,  he  invoked  the  child's  spirit  to  hold  fast  to  the 
foundations  of  the  faith;  the  unity  of  God,  &c.  So  Irving  says.* 

According  to  Hue,  the  Catholic  missionary,  table-rapping  and 
table-turning  were  in  use  in  the  thirteenth  century  among  the 
Mongols,  in  the  wilds  of  Tartary.  The  Chinese  recognize  spirit 
ual  intervention  as  a  fact,  and  it  is  an  element  in  their  religious 
systems.  At  the  rites  in  honor  of  Confucius,  Hue  tells  us  that 
the  spirit  of  Confucius  is  addressed  as  present. 

Dr.  Macgowan,  in  the  "North-China  Herald,"  tells  us  how 
writing  is  performed  by  the  agency  of  spirits ;  from  which  we 
may  infer  that  a  form  of  Planchette  is  no  novelty  among  the 
Chinese.  He  says,  "The  table  is  sprinkled  equally  with  bran, 


*  From  Irving,  we  learn  that  Columbus,  too,  was  a  Spiritualist ;   believing  that  a 
spirit-voice  spoke  to  him,  to  comfort  him  in  his  troubles,  in  Hispaniola. 


39$  PLANCH ETTE. 

flour,  dust,  or  other  powder;  and  two  mediums  sit  down  at  oppo 
site  sides,  with  their  hands  on  the  table.  A  hemispherical  bas 
ket,  eight  inches  in  diameter,  is  now  reversed,  and  laid  down 
with  its  edges  resting  on  the  tips  of  one  or  two  fingers  of  the 
two  mediums.  This  basket  is  to  act  as  penholder;  and  a  reed, 
or  style,  is  fastened  to  the  rim,  or  a  chopstick  thrust  through 
the  interstices,  with  the  point  touching  the  powdered  table. 

"  The  ghost,  meanwhile,  has  been  duly  invoked  ;  and  the  spec 
tators  stand  round,  waiting  the  result.  This  is  not  uniform.  Some 
times  the  spirit  summoned  is  unable  to  write ;  sometimes  he  is 
mischievously  inclined,  and  the  pen  —  for  it  always  moves  — 
will  make  either  a  few  senseless  flourishes  on  the  tables,  or 
fashion  sentences  that  are  without  meaning,  or  with  a  meaning 
that  only  misleads.  This,  however,  is  comparatively  rare.  In 
general,  the  words  traced  are  arranged  in  the  best  form  of  com 
position,  and  they  communicate  intelligence  wholly  unknown  to 
the  operators.  These  operators  are  said  to  be  not  only  uncon 
scious,  but  unwilling,  participators  in  the  feat." 

The  same  writer  tells  us  that  in  Ningpo,  in  1843,  there  was 
scarcely  a  house  in  which  this  mode  of  getting  messages  from 
the  spirits  was  not  practised.  So  it  would  seem  that,  some  five 
years  before  the  phenomena  at  Hydesville,  Planchette,  or  a  sub 
stitute  for  it,  was  common  in  China!  * 

*  In  the  New-York  "Round  Table"  of  Dec.  i2th,  1868,  we  find  the  following  re 
marks  upon  the  subject  of  Planchette :  "  Mr.  Kirby  is  said  to  have  sold  over  two  hun 
dred  thousand  planchettes,  at  a  profit  of  fifty  cents,  cash,  each.  It  need  not  surprise  us 
that  Mr.  Kirby  thinks  well  of  planchette.  Now  what  does  so,  knowing  a  young  lady 
as  Miss  Field  think  of  it?  In  this  neat  little  volume  (' Planchette's  Diary'),  she  tells 
her  own  experiences,  and,  as  a  conclusion  of  the  whole,  admits  that  she  has  no  theory,  is 
perplexed ;  and,  finally,  '  from  the  sensations  undergone  while  using  planchette,  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  myself  under  the  influence  of  a  wonderfully  subtle  magnetic  fluid.' 
To  find  a  name  to  call  a  thing  by,  seems  to  satisfy  most  minds ;  but  a  name  is  nothing,  — 
'electricity,'  'magnetism,'  'odic  force,'  '  vital  current,'  and  so  on  and  on,  and  we  are 
as  much  in  the  dark  as  ever  about  planchette,  table-movings,  hysteria,  Spiritualism-, 
demonism,  witchcraft,  possession  of  devils,  &c.  Are  these  any  thing  at  all  but  '  de 
rangement  '  of  the  normal  forces  of  human  nature,  or  a  strange  and  unhealthy  action? 
or  are  they,  in  some  subtle  way,  the  action  of  spiritual  forces  outside  of  ourselves  ? 
Science  has  not  yet  settled  the  question,  and  we  commend  it  to  the  attention  of  our 
new  school  of  positivists." 


DEATH    A    STEP    TO    HIGHER    LIFE.  399 

Seneca  compares  the  birth  of  man  into  this  world  to  his  birth 
from  the  womb  of  Nature,  into  "  another  beginning,  another 
state  of  things  that  expects  us." 

"It  will  be  just  as  natural  for  you,"  says  one,  claiming  to  be  a 
spirit,  "  to  become  suddenly  conscious  of  the  spirit-world,  as  it 
is  for  the  infant  to  be  ushered  into  the  material  world  without 
Consciously  experiencing  any  unusual  degree  of  excitement  from 
the  occurrence." 

"A  form  which  vanishes,"  says  Gustave  Aimand,  "is  the 
creation  of  a  new  form,  a  transformation  of  being.  What  we 
call  death  is  a  movement  in  advance,  a  progressive  evolution,  an 
aggrandizement  of  life.  Our  past  furnishes  us  a  double  proof 
of  this  assertion ;  for  it  is  through  a  double  death,  a  double  de 
struction  of  anterior  forms,  that  we  arrive  at  our  present  life. 

"  Suppose  that  the  ovule  which  is  to  one  day  be  a  man,  had 
sensibility  and  intelligence  :  would  it  not  take  for  symptoms, 
premonitory  of  its  end,  the  painful  rendings  of  its  ovulary  or 
ganization  ?  Error !  Vain  fears  !  The  ovule  becomes  a  foetus ; 
that  is  to  say,  passes  from  an  inferior  life  to  a  superior;  for  the 
foetus  has  an  organization  and  a  life  distinct  from  those  both  of 
the  ovule  and  of  the  infant. 

"  Suppose  now  that  the  foetus,  also  sensitive  and  intelligent, 
approaching  the  end  of  its  foetal  life,  began  to  experience  the 
sufferings  of  child-birth.  Would  not  it,  too,  believe  that  the 
convulsive  claspings  of  the  uterus  were  the  very  embrace  of 
death  and  the  utter  annihilation  of  life  ?  Error  again !  Vain 
fears !  For  that  which  it  took  for  its  death-rattle  of  agony,  and 
its  last  adieu  to  existence,  is  the  first  wailing  of  a  new-born 
child,  its  salutation  to  a  new  and  higher  life. 

"And  so  the  end  of  one  life  is  the  commencement  of  another 
life  less  imperfect.  It  is  in  this  manner,  beyond  a  doubt,  that 
by  an  endless  series  of  evolutions  or  of  deaths,  we  shall  realize 
more  and  more  the  divine  destiny  which  is  revealed  to  us  and 
promised  by  our  aspirations,  our  infinite  desires. 

"Unless  man  is  eternal  in  his  substance,  immortal  in  his  per 
sonality,  infinite  in  his  destiny,  even  as  he  is  in  his  desires,  then 


4OO  PLANCHETTE. 

there  is  neither  Being  of  beings,  nor  Omnipotent  Goodness, 
nor  Infinite  Love,  nor  Eternal  Justice  :  God  does  not  exist." 

We  know  with  what  suddenness  the  prevalent  fanatical  notions 
in  regard  to  witchcraft  passed  away  from  the  civilized  world. 
Mr.  Lecky  has  described  it  in  some  striking  sentences.  It  was 
as  if  people  had  awakened  all  at  once  from  a  dreadful  night 
mare.  One  day  witchcraft  seemed  a  fixed  fact,  and  the  next  day 
it  was  spurned  and  gone.  Unquestionably,  with  what  there  was 
in  it  fanatical  and  false,  much  that  was  true  was  repudiated.  It 
will  be  the  work  of  Spiritualism  to  point  out  and  re-confirm 
the  true.  But  the  time  is  not  far  back,  when,  to  deny  witchcraft, 
and  the  construction  put  on  it  by  the  authority  of  the  Old  Testa 
ment,  was  regarded  as  a  sort  of  atheism. 

May  it  not  be  that  our  theological  systems  and  creeds,  widely 
but  somewhat  passively  accepted  as  they  now  may  be,  are  des 
tined  to  a  winnowing  not  unlike  that  which  witchcraft  has 
undergone?  May  not  some  of  our  professional  religious  teachers 
wake  up  some  bright  morning  to  find  that  their  hearers  have 
very  generally  outgrown  a  certain  style  of  appeal  to  their  lazy 
preferences,  their  self-indulgent  hopes,  their  nervous  fears,  or 
their  sordid  calculations?  Should  such  a  change  come,  —  and 
the  signs  are  threatening,  —  we  may  be  sure  that  Spiritualism, 
pure  and  undefiled,  will  be  the  unfailing  conservator  of  all  that 
is  good  and  true  in  human  beliefs  on  the  subject  of  the  rela 
tions  of  man  to  time  and  to  eternity,  to  the  universe  and  to  its 
Author. 


THE    END. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


Affidavits,  24,  82,  132-4. 

Blichner,  154,  159,  195,  198, 

Consciousness,     154,     198, 

Agassiz,  10-13,  374- 

367.  369- 

219,   224,   238,   262,   376. 

Alcott,  371,  372. 

Burtis,  318. 

Cooper,  R.,  48. 

Angels,  321,  322. 

Burton,  R    F.,  46. 

Copernicus,  28,  54. 

Apparitions,  57,  63-7,  72,74, 

Bush,  Geo.,  113,  150,  345. 

Cornhill  Magazine,  85. 

78.    107,   144,  201-6,  209, 

Bushnell    169,  170. 

Correlation  of  forces,  260. 

233,  340,  341- 

Cabalists,  347,  348. 

Cottin,  Angelique,  221. 

Arago,  165,  221. 

Cahagnet,  353. 

Cox,  William,  18,  19. 

Aristotle,  340. 

Calefrio6. 

Cudworth,  153,  322,  351. 

Ascliauer,  209,  212. 

Calmet,  106. 

Cui  bono?  17,  94,  278. 

Ashburner,  114,  223,  245. 
Atheism,  153,  305. 

Calvin,  334. 
Cambridge  Committee,   10, 

Culver,  Mrs.,  34. 
Cushman,  Mrs.,  124. 

Atkinson,  176,  177. 

13,  28,  289. 

Cuvier,  222. 

Augustine,  27,  154,  172,  395. 

Campbell,  Dr.  Geo.,  53,  54. 

Danskin,  W.  A.,  132,  232. 

Axioms,  308. 

Cardan,  340,  366. 

Dark  Circles,  38,  282,  286. 

Azais,  367. 

Carlyle,  t.,  216. 

Darkness  a  condition,  125. 

Cabbage.  Professor,  388. 

Carpenter,  Dr.  VV.  B.,  154, 

Darwinian  theory,  155,  266, 

Babinet,  213,  289. 

1  60. 

268,  269. 

Bacon,  104,  148,  16?. 

Catholic  Church,  318,  319, 

Daumer,  Professor,  240. 

Bain,  199. 

Catholic  miracles,  396. 

Davenport  Brothers,  11-17, 

Balaam,  9,  393. 

Chambers,  R.,  18,  in. 

37-45,  231. 

Banner  of  Light,  132,  297. 

Chaseray.  360,  363,  364,  365. 

Davenport  Brothers  in  Eu 

Baxter,    R.,    27,    155,    202, 

Chemical  facts,  6,  247,  374. 

rope,  46,  47,  48. 

250 

Childs,  H.  T.,  303. 

Davenport   Brothers,  exhi 

Beattie,  158. 

Chinese,  Planchette  among, 

bitions  of,  45,  235. 

Beaumont,  206. 

397-. 

Davenport     Brothers,     re 

Beecher,  C.,  255. 
Beecher,  E.,  332   354. 

Christianity,  253,  316,  318, 
352. 

ports  on,  17,  38-45,  46. 

Bell,  R.,  18,  28,  85,  86,  95, 
223. 

Cicero,    172,  255,   256,  340. 
Clairvoyance,  Proofs  of,  10, 

353- 
Davy,  Sir  H.,  354. 

Berkeley,  305. 

28,  75,  105,  113,  146,  151, 

Death,   243,   244,  279,  280, 

Bertrand.  Dr.,  165,  185,  186, 

154,  159,  165,  166,  167,  168, 

300,  316,  317,  336,  361. 

388. 

169,  171,  378. 

Delachambre,  324. 

Bible  Spiritualism,  207,  290, 

Clairvoyance  a  proof  of  im 

Deleuze,  153,  178-185. 

324- 

mortality,  187-195. 

Delitzch,  345. 

Billet,  178-185. 

Clairvoyance  called  impos 

Democritus,  233. 

Bizouard.  209. 

sible,  166. 

Demonolatry,  206. 

Blackstone,  27,  96,  108. 

Clairvoyant,  The,  183. 

Denton,    Wm.,    134,    151, 

Blind  Tom,  140. 

Clark,  Bishop,  in. 

223>  387- 

Boehme,  150. 

Cleveland  Convention,   38, 

Descartes,  339,  364. 

Boismont,  168,  169. 

285,  286,  318. 

Deschamps,  Emile,  383. 

Bonnamy,  331,  363. 

Clemens,  Alex.,  172. 

Dewey,  Rev.  O.,  279. 

Bonnet,  366,  368. 
Boston  Courier,  9,  10. 

Cloquet,  M.,  163. 
Cock  Lane  ghost,  205. 

Diabolical  agency,  321,  322. 
Divination,  173. 

Boucicault,  17. 

Clowes,  Rev.  Mr.,  323. 

Doherty,  H.,  156. 

Bowles,  B.  F.,  174. 

Colby,  W.  A.,  123. 

Donne,  Dr.,  202. 

Bray,  C.,  220. 

Colchester,  123,  206. 

Double-goers,  233,  237. 

Brewster,  9,  18,  19,  109,  289. 

Coleman,  Benj.,  18,  19,  57, 

Dreams,  169,  256. 

Brittan,  171,  223. 

60,  77,  124,  148,  223,  235, 

Druids,  The,  290,  349. 

Brodie,  318. 

236,    237,    238,   273,  287, 

Dublin  Review,  319. 

Brougham,  18. 

r,  294-' 

Dupotet,  153,  178,  185,  186, 

Brown,  R.  H.,  187. 

Coleridge,  86,  250,  377. 

187,  378. 

Browne,  Sir  T.,  104. 

Collier,  Dr.,  28. 

Dyott,  M.  B.,  286. 

Browning,  Mrs.,  m. 

Columbus,  1  10,  397. 

Edinburgh  Review,  10,  103, 

Brownson,  213. 
Brutes,  Souls  of,  263,  265. 

Conflict  of  Ages,  332,  354. 
Communications,    25,    238, 

108,  no,  160. 
Edmonds,  Judge,  229,  300, 

Bdchree,  L.,  228. 

294,  301. 

Edwards,  Milne,  368. 

26 

402 


INDEX. 


Egyptians,  The,  346. 
Electricity,  6,  28. 
Elliotson,  20,  117,  157,  177. 
Ellis,  Laura  V.,  129,  130. 
Elongation,  100,  226. 
Encyc.  Metrop.,  31,  107. 
Ennemoser,  no,  252. 
Enfantin,  328. 
England,    Spiritualism    in, 

281. 

Epicurus,  233. 
Eschenmayer,  146,  147,  252. 
Evil,  Existence  of,  284,  303, 

3°4,  333,  348- 
Evodius,  395. 
Failure,  Causes  of,  13,  94. 
Faraday,  9,   15,   16-19,   25j 

296. 
Faraday,  his  theory,  15,  20, 

1 18,   2l8,  222,   260. 

Farrar,  Daniel,  206,  223. 

Fathers,  The,  366. 

Favre,  Jules,  in. 

Fay,  William,  46,  235. 

Felton,  Professor,  9. 

Ferguson,  J.  B.,  235,  236, 
250. 

Fer.erbach,  154,  155. 

Field,  Kate,  398. 

Filassier,  M.,  165. 

Finney,  S.  J.,  304. 

Fire  ordeal,  96. 

Flint,  Dr.,  his  theory,  9. 

Flourens,  M.,  365,  368. 

Fcetus,  Mind  in  the,  156. 

Foster,  C.  H.,  111-120, 171. 

Fourier,   328. 

Fox  family,  29. 

Fox,  Kate,  n,  30,  34,  55, 
109,  161. 

Fox,  Kate,  Dr.  Gray's  re 
marks  on,  160. 

Franck,  Professor  G.,  196. 

Franklin,  Benj.,  54. 

Franklin,  Benj.,  supposed 
apparition  of,  62,  66,  70, 

Fuller,  Margaret,  141. 

Galileo,  28,  327. 

Gardner,  Dr.  H.,  9-11. 

Garibaldi,  in. 

Garve,  C.,  370. 

Gasparin,  164,  221. 

Georget,  160,  164. 

Gibbon,  298. 

Glanvil,  27,  30,  31,  206,  341. 

God,  Conceptions  of,  152, 
271,  311,  322,  331,  350. 

Goethe,  no,  151,  154,  385. 

Gorres,  no,  146,  209,  212, 
252. 

Gould,  Professor  B.  A.,  10. 

Gotisset,  Cardinal,  320. 


Gratiolet,  368. 

Hypothesis,  Spiritual,  108, 

Graves,  E.  de  las,  290. 

1  10,    176,    223,    225,  246, 

Gray,  Dr.  J.  F.,  38,  39,  55, 

258,  267,  277,  296. 

60,  78,  134,  223. 

Identity,  62,  324. 

Greeley,  H.,  50. 
Gregory,  Dr.  Wm.,  13. 

Inglefield,  Captain,  18. 
Immortality,  191. 

Grote,  347. 

Insanity,  108. 

Grove,  379. 

Intuition,  192,  308. 

Guay,  Wm.,  138. 

Irenaeus,  345,  351,  367. 

Guldenstubbe,  206. 

Iron-ring    feats,    130,    132, 

Gully,  Dr.,  28,  95. 

232. 

Gunning,  Professor,  14,  124, 

Jackson,    J.    W.,    223-233, 

139,  223. 

238,  352, 

Guppy,  Dr.,  231,  247. 
Hahn,  207. 

Jacob  the  Zouave,  393. 
Jamb  ichus,  100,255,  340. 

Hall,  Mrs.  S.  C.,  101. 

Jamieson,  W.  F.,  284. 

Haliey's  comet,  27. 

Jencken,  H.  J.,  100. 

Hamilton,  Sir  W.,  305,  306, 

Jesus,  148,  239,  253,  321. 

378. 

Jews,  The,  172. 

Hamilton,  the  juggler,  47. 

Joan  of  Arc,  26,  79. 

Hands,   Formation    of,    36,     Jobard,  M.,  280. 

45,  59,  89,   "7,   I27,    134, 

Johnson,  Dr.,  154,  205,  319. 

139,  206,  207,231,286,395. 

Joubert,  153,  171. 

Hare,    Professor,    20,    228, 

Julian,  the  apostate,  298. 

250. 
Hardinge,  E.,  102. 

Justin,  Martyr,  172. 
Kane,  Captain,  29. 

Harris,  T.  L.,  324. 

Kant,  204,  252,  342. 

Haunted  houses,  4. 

Kardec,  313,  328-336,  337, 

Heaven,  301,  358. 

338,  339 

Hecker,  319. 
Hegel,   148,  305,   354,  357. 

Kepler,  357. 
Kerner,  Justmus,   32,    no, 

Hell,  301,  315,  357. 

in,     141-150,    237,    252, 

Heraclitus,  158. 

295. 

Herder,  342~344- 

King,  T.  S.,  214-216. 

Hermann,  the  juggler,  123. 
Herodotus,  346. 

Knee-joint  theory,  9. 
Koon's  rooms,  35-37. 

Herschel,  Sir  J.,  94. 

Lacordaire,  320. 

Hindoos,  The,  349,  350. 

Latour,  327. 

Home,  Daniel,  his  affidavit, 

Lavater,  no,  151,  381,  385. 

life,  &c.,  80,  100. 

Lecky,  104,  400. 

letter  to  Tyndall,  16. 

Lee,  Dr.  Edwin,  167. 

testimonials,  23,  24,  84, 

Lee  and  Flint,  Drs.,  9. 

87,  98,  100. 

Leibnitz,  157,  173,  244. 

seances,  18,  21,  87,  98- 

Leigh  ton,  A.,  223,  224,  226. 

IOO. 

Leroux,  328,  360,  363. 

ordeal  by  fire,  97. 
elongation,  100. 

Lessing,  146,  325,  342,  345. 
Levitation,  92,  100,  101,  105, 

levitation,  145. 
referred  to,  379. 

106,    107,    109,    128,   146, 
184,  226. 

Honestas,  241-5,  296. 

Lewes,  G-  H.,  25,  266. 

Hooker,  Dr.,  155. 

Lewis,  Dr.  Winslow,  84. 

Hornung,  D.,  240. 
Horsford,  Professor,  10. 

Lichtenberg,  342. 
Lights,  Spirit,  56. 

Houdin  on  Davenports,  46. 

Livermore,   C.   F.,  his   ex 

Howitt,  Wm.,  178,  201,  205, 

periences    through   Kate 

223,  250. 

Fox,  56-79,  223,  231. 

Hull,  Dr.  Gerald,  61. 

Livy,  162. 

Human  Nature,  241,  296. 

Locke,  264,  279. 

Hume,  258. 

London  Sat.  Rev.,  148. 

Huxley,  266,  268,  270. 

Loomis's,  Dr.,  Report,  39. 

Hydesville   doings,   29,   57, 

Lord,  Jennie,  125,  128,  129, 

178. 

146. 

INDEX. 


4°3 


Loveland,  J.  S.,  286. 
Luther,  27. 

Lyndhurst,  Lord,  in. 
Lyon,  Mrs.,  81,  82. 
Lyttleton,  Lord,  201. 
Lytton,  294,  373.  _ 
Magnetism,     Animal,     28, 

151,   i53,  154,   162,   171. 
Magnetism,     Reports     on, 

l62,    222. 

Magnetists,  French,  177. 
Mahan,  220,  251. 
Mahomet,  397. 
Manicheans,  349. 
Manifestations.    See  Table 

of  Contents,  9-12. 
Mansel,  305,  306,  309,  334. 
Mansfield,  J.  V.,  u,  379. 
Mapes,  Professor,  45. 
Marshall,  Mrs.,  240. 
Marsilius  Ficinus,  340. 
*Martineau,  J.,  199. 
Mary  Jane  theory,  247. 
Mather,  27,  106. 
Matter  and  Spirit,  295. 
Materialism,   153,    157-160, 

166,  189,  195,  318. 
Materialism  answered,  189, 

195,  267, 
Maudsley,   Dr.,  ,  108,    160, 

196. 

Maury,  368. 
Mazzini,  in. 
Mediums,  123,  82,  125. 
mutiplicationof,  35,  106, 

241,  291. 

unreliable,  285,  324. 
why  necessary,  13,  241- 

243. 

Mediumship,  101,  241. 
Melancthon,  31. 
Memory,  360,  377. 
Mesmer,  Anton,  161. 
Metamorphosis,  173. 
Metaphysics,  309,  345. 
Metempsychosis,    173,  256, 

300,  326,  327. 
Methodism,  281. 
Meteoric  Stones,  15. 
Meyer,  Von  F.,  no,  146. 
Mill,  J.  S.,  334- 
Mi  racles,  280,  322. 
Mojon,  Bianca,  317. 
Moleschott,    154,    157,   195, 

198,  367- 
Montlosier,  374. 
More,  Henry,  103,  207,  314, 

339- 
Morgan,    Professor  A.   de, 

i5?  21,  in,  223. 
Monn,  M.,  178. 
Morton,  Dr.  W.  T.  G.,  109. 


Moser's  experiments,  165. 

Planchette.  its  caprices,  3, 

Mott,  Dr.  V.,  163. 

in  China,  397. 

Mountford,  Wm.,    34,   125, 

sale  of,  397. 

223,  396. 

Plato,  27,  162,318,346,395. 

Muchelney      disturbances, 

Plotinus,  340. 

1  20. 

Plutarch,  27,  297. 

Muller,  J.,  342. 

Pneumatology,  151. 

Mumler,  137. 
Musical  Manifestations,  36, 
9J>  95- 

Porphyry,  347. 
Potter,  W.  B.,  291. 
Prediction,       Remarkable, 

Nation,  N.Y.,  288,  289. 

167. 

Neo-Platonists,  347. 

Pre-existence,  256,  300,  326- 

Nervous  fluid,  223. 

354- 

Newman,  F.  W.,  388. 

Prevision,  167,  169.  • 

Newton,    19,  54,    102,   157, 

Proclus,  340. 

295- 

Professors  nonplussed,  13. 

Newton,  Dr.,  393. 

Protestantism,  255. 

Newton,  A.  E.,  292. 

Psychology,  262. 

Nichols,  Dr.  J.  R.,  3-7. 

Psychometry,  146,  354,  374- 

Nichols,  Dr.  T.  L.,  12,  13, 

39°- 

37- 

Puysegur,  153,  165,  171,  186. 

Norton,  D.,  303. 

Pythagoras  27,  340,  343,  346. 

Novalis,  35,  no. 

Pythomsm,  289,  322. 

Oberlin,  no,  259. 

Rappings,    2,    29,    32,    105, 

Objections,    Frivolous,    54, 

142,  206,  240,  248,  253. 

147,  148. 

Ray,  Dr.  J.,  8. 

Odic  Force,  190,  241,  247. 

Read,  C.  H.,  132. 

Oersted,  375. 

Reade,  Chas.,  iS. 

Oracles,  Ancient,  172,  297. 

Redman,  the  medium,  n, 

Origen,    27,   154,    172,   340, 

35- 

341,   344,    348,    349,   354, 

Rehn,  260. 

355- 

Reichenbach,  118,  220,  240, 

Owen,  R.  D.,  36,  201,  223, 
233- 

241,  247,  251,  387. 
Reichenbach  on  Spiritual 

Page,  David,  266. 
Pall  Mall  Gazette,  17,  298. 

ism,  241. 
Reimar,  365. 

Palmer,  John,  204. 
Pantheism,  305. 

Re-incarnation,  331. 
Religion,  312,  314. 

Pascal,  154,  167,  334. 

Renan,  E.,  397. 

Perisprit,  329. 

Resurrection   of  the  body, 

Perrone,  Father,  319. 

3*5- 

Personal    experiences,    37, 

Reubelt,  195. 

112,    113,    125,    120,    129, 

Reynaud,  328,  355-363. 

153,  206,  274. 

Rhys,  M.,  Letter  of,  47. 

Phelps,  Rev.  Dr.,  5,  49,  50. 

Rich,  Elihu,  107. 

Phenomena  of  1847,  29,  135, 

Richardson,  134. 

136,  151. 

Richardson,  Rev.  J.,  204. 

Phenomena    of  witchcraft, 

Richter,  318. 

I05i  135>  '43 

Robertson,  F.  W.,  279. 

classified,  55,  225,  251, 

Rochester,  Henry,  168. 

321. 

Rochester    knockings,    29, 

Physical,    25,    35,    94, 

33- 

285,  319. 

Rochester  resolutions,  300 

Real,  4,  8. 

Rogers,  E.  C.,  218. 

admitted  by  the  Cath 

Rope-tying,  39-45,  129,  133. 

olic  Church,  319,  320. 

Rostan,  M.,  164. 

irrepressible,  7. 

Rothery,  W.  H.,  349. 

Phosphorus,  199. 

Round  Table,  397. 

Physiology,  154,  156,  161. 
Pierce,  Professor,  10,  13. 

Rule,  Margaret,  106. 
Sadduceeism,  171,  206,  321. 

Planchette,  described,  i,  4, 

St.  Martin,  178,  328,  341. 

5- 

St.  Paul,  123,  151,  162,  344. 

4o4 


INDEX. 


St.  Philip  of  Veri,  107. 
St.  Simon,  328. 
St.  Thomas,  364,  367. 
Salem     Phenomena,      103, 

120. 

Salzer,  366. 
Samson,  Dr.,  220. 
Schelling,  342. 
Schlegel,  F.,  155. 
Schopenhauer,  351. 
Schubert,  no,  146,  252,  342, 

Science    and    Spiritualism, 

312. 

Science,  Duty  of,  28. 
Science,  Sensitiveness  of,  4, 

13,  22. 

Scientific  American,  7,  8. 
Scientific  men,  attitude  of, 

3,  8,  13,  17,  27,  231. 
Scientific  reaction,  21. 
Scott,  Walter,  97,  373. 
Seeing  without  eyes,  10, 

146,    151,    159,    189-193, 

321. 
Seeress  of  Prevorst,  26,  32, 

102,    141-150,    237,    252, 

256,  257,  345. 
Seership,  397. 
Seguin,  186. 
Senior,  in. 
Sensitives,  379. 
Shakespeare,  104,  319. 
Shelley,  167. 
Shorter,    Thomas,   97,   98, 

145,    199,   205,   213,    218, 

223,  286,  287,  314,  335. 
Sibour,  320. 

Simmons,  Senator,  50-53. 
Simpson,    the     electrician, 

24. 
Skepticism     reversed,     34, 

125,  320. 

Slack,  H.  J.,  239,  318. 
Sleep,  246. 

Socrates,  27,  318,  319,  347, 
Somnambulism,     150,     153, 

154,   161,  164-166. 
Sorcery,  104,  154. 
Soul,    The,    150,    151,   166, 

171,    189,    240,   243,   263, 

31-8,   324,    329,   330,  345, 

399- 
Soul,  its  immortality,  191, 

193,  313-3I7- 
Southey,  373. 
Speaking  unknown  tongues, 

395- 
Spencer,  Herbert,   14,   270, 

272,  305,  309.  3io- 
Spinoza,  305. 
Spirit,  The,  263, 


Spirit  body,  150,  171,  174- 

Tennyson,  326. 

176,    189,    241,    300, 

Terre  «t  Ciel.      See   Rey- 

336,   337, 

naud. 

communications,       24, 

Tertullian,     172,    222,    340, 

238,    283,    284,    285, 

367- 

290,  291. 

Thackeray,  85,  86,  m. 

costume,  64-68,  70. 

Theories,  6,    19,   218,    223, 

drawings,  254. 

224,   229,    238,    239,    243, 

fallibility,  238,  279,  283- 

245,  247,  262,  258,  350. 

285,  293. 

Topham,   Sir  William,  117. 

•  flowers,  66,   74,  75,   76, 

Townshend,    C.    H.,    153, 

90,  231. 

1  66,   173. 

hands.     See  Hands. 

Traducianism,  340. 

identity,  62,  324. 

Treviranus,  Dr.,  86. 

low  manifestations,  282. 

Trollope,  Thomas,  18. 

music,  90,  91,  95,   124, 

Truth  stranger  than  fiction, 

126,  227. 

87.  95- 

phenomena    uncertain, 

Tyndall,   Professor,  16,  17, 

243- 

26,  198,  379. 

photographs,  137,  138, 

Upham  on  Witchcraft,  103, 

*39- 

105,  107,  108,  in. 

seeing,  145,  257. 

Vacherot,  369. 

teachings,  284,  298-325, 

Vane,  Sir  H.,  341. 

Van  der  Kolk,   Schroeder, 

voices,  36,  45,  49,  105, 
!35- 

Van  Helmont,  342. 

world,  149,  315,  321. 

Varley,  23,  96,  in,  223. 

writing,  73,  206. 

Virgil,  340,  372. 

Spiritism,  328-332. 

Vogt,  Karl,   154,   156,  157, 

Spirits,   Contradictions    of, 

195,  196,  198,  367. 

291,  293,  297. 

Voices.     See  Spirit. 

Deceptive,  106,  128,  149, 

Voltaire,  376. 

325. 

Wagner,  R.,  368. 

Evil,    285,     303,     324, 

Wallace,  A.  R.,  155,  223. 

321. 

Wake,  C.  S.,  262-272,  345. 

Spiritual    Magazine,    Lon 

Wesleys,  The,  30,  31. 

don,  25,  177,  187,  227, 

Whately,  in. 

282. 

Wheatcroft,  202. 

philosophy,  304. 
theories.  See  Theories. 

White,  Win.,  132. 
Whitehead,   Rev.  T.,   141, 

Spiritualism       anticipated, 
177-185,  290. 

200. 
Whitman,  Sarah  H.,  50. 

defamed,    9,    108,    288, 

Whittier,  335. 

289. 

Wiener,  195,  252. 

modern,   154,  197,  239, 

Willard,  Z.  A.,  134. 

282,  283,  290,  298. 

Wilkinson,  W.  M.,  17,  24, 

of  the  Bible,  391. 

125,  223. 

Squire,  the  medium,  254. 

Wilkinson,  Dr.  J.  G.,  204, 

Sterne,  Carus,  228. 

286. 

Stigmata  113,  115,  120. 
Stilling,  150,  151,  233,  252. 

Williams,  167. 
Willson,  Forceythe,  84,  386. 

Stone-throwing,    105,    209, 

Wiseman,     Cardinal,     in, 

210. 

Stratford  phenomena,  5,  49. 

Witchcraft,     27,     103  -  108, 

Swedenborg,   27,   102,    106, 

i54- 

238,  296,  322,  323,  324. 

Wollaston,  284. 

Swedenborgians,    322,   323, 

Wordsworth,  166,  373. 

324- 

Wynyard  apparition,  202. 

Swift,  Col.,  203. 

Yount,  Captain,  169. 

Table-tipping,  94,  222. 

Zoist,  The,  157,  177. 

Taylor,  Isajuv-asSs-*—-^.,, 

Zschokke,  84,  no,  171,  379- 

Tennent,  Gilbert,  256,  257."" 

-.  383- 

r^   OF  THE    '            \ 
UNiVEBSHV    )) 

1 


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